You Think You Know Someone
by Wraythau
Summary: Ongoing series featuring my rather eccentric take on Gordon Freeman. Will include my own re-tellings of sections of the in-game story as well as some OC. Rated T for language, violence and potentially suggestive content in later chapters. **Warning** this series will feature a fair amount of Freemance fluff.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone, I've made the decision to consolidate the series of fics I've been working on into multiple chapters of a single story. The original "You Think You Know Someone" is now the second chapter, which is confusing I know, but I kinda wanted to keep the story flowing in chronological order. Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy my foolishly nationalistic take on Gordon Freeman and if you've got the time to review my work I'd very much appreciate it. Also, if there's anyone out there who would be interested in doing some proof reading for the upcoming instalments I'd love to hear from you._

"It's me Gordon! Barney, from Black Mesa. Sorry for the scare, I had to put on a show for the cameras."

The man who called himself Barney kept talking, but Gordon wasn't really paying attention, he was too busy trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The last thing he remembered, before waking up on the train ten minutes ago, was jumping through a portal at the insistence of the strange, suit wearing man who had been dogging his footsteps since his early days at Black Mesa. He still had no idea where he was. Some of the signs he'd seen at the train station seemed to indicate he was somewhere in eastern europe, but bizarrely everyone seemed to be speaking english. He was starting to get very worried, he knew a military dictatorship when he saw one, and what he'd seen of the inhabitants of this place so far suggested a level of subjugation and control he'd never encountered before, not even during the darkest days of his former life.

He studied the man who claimed to be his old friend carefully as he activated what appeared to be some sort of video communication device. It certainly looked like Barney Calhoun, but he was so... _old._ The Barney he knew had been a couple of years younger than Gordon, but the man before him looked to be in his forties, his face was lined and there were touches of silver in the hair around his temples. It _couldn't_ be him.

The sound of a familiar voice pulled him out of his reverie.

"Yes Barney, what is it? I'm in the middle of a critical test."

He knew he'd recognise that voice anywhere, and a quick glance at the monitor confirmed his suspicions. "Isaac Kleiner," he breathed, his surprise at seeing his old mentor mingled with relief at the fact that he seemed to have survived the carnage at Black Mesa.

"Sorry Doc, but look who's here," Barney responded, stepping to the side to give Gordon a clear view of the screen.

"Great Scott! Gordon Freeman! I expected more warning," Kleiner burst out, his earlier consternation evaporating in an instant.

"Yeah, you and me both Doc. He was about to board the express for Nova Prospekt,"

Barney answered, his tone suggesting that such a course of action was tantamount to Gordon wearing his underwear as a hat and insisting he was a pine cone.

"Well Barney, what do you intend?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..."

Gordon zoned out as the conversation continued, his eyes darting about the room, taking in the crumbling plaster and the dingy, flaking paint, finally coming to rest on the blood splattered interrogation chair in the centre of the floor. He glanced back to Barney, eyes taking in the the uniform and the ghoulish white helmet he'd removed earlier. What kind of Gestapo outfit was his friend tied up with? And this was _Barney,_ the guy who loved humorous cat pictures and squealed like a girl whenever he found a spider in his room. _What the hell had happened while he'd been on Xen?_

He took off his glasses and rubbed a hand over his face. All he wanted to do was get the hell away from here until he could figure out what to do.

He looked up suddenly when he realised Barney was speaking to him.

"Gordon? You hearing me? You're going to have to make your own way to Dr. Kleiner's lab."

Gordon just stared at him blankly, not having the faintest idea of how he might do such a thing. He was about to open his mouth to ask Barney how the bloody hell he expected him to navigate his way through a city he'd never been to, when the door shook under the weight of several heavy knocks.

"Oh man, that's what I was afraid of," Barney said in a hoarse whisper. "Get in here Gordon, before you blow my cover!" Barney pulled open the room's back door and shoved Gordon out into a run down storage area.

"Get through that window up there, and keep going until you're in the plaza. I'll meet up with you later."

The door was slammed abruptly in Gordon's face, leaving him with no choice but to follow Barney's instructions, clambering up a rusty ladder to the room's attic and using a wooden crate to boost himself through the window. Looking out, he could see it was at least three metres down to the street, with nothing but another crate to break his fall. Spinning around to let himself through feet first, he held on to the window sill and lowered himself until his arms were fully extended before letting go, hoping to mitigate the height of the fall as much as possible. He landed with a crash on the flimsy box, it's thin timber doing little to slow his descent. Picking himself up with a groan, he dusted off his clothes, taking note of them for the first time. He seemed to be wearing a plain denim shirt and trousers, of the same kind as those worn by most of the other people he'd seen, with a white t-shirt underneath. He patted the pockets absently, not really expecting to find anything, and being quite surprised to find a familiar lump in his right hip pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled out a well worn zippo lighter with an ace of spades printed on one side. A smile spread across his face, it was _his_ lighter, the one he'd carried with him for most of his adult life, and as silly as it might have seemed to anyone else, knowing it was still with him made him feel just a little less alone. With hope suddenly rising in his heart he explored his other pockets more thoroughly, his shoulders slumping visibly when he realised that whoever had slipped the lighter into his pocket hadn't bothered to include any cigarettes. Heaving a sigh he tucked the lighter away and looked for a way out of the alley he'd fallen into.

On closer inspection it was more like a courtyard, with buildings on all sides and a single door leading out. He opened it cautiously, slipping through when it was apparent that the room on other side was empty, and making his way quietly up the staircase on the opposite side. Coming through another door he found himself in a tiled hallway, similar in architecture to the area around the train platform he'd arrived at earlier, and in a similar state of disrepair, with dirt and piles of trash littering the cracked flagstones and the grimy windows at the far end of the hall letting in only a grey echo of the sunlight outside. The hallway to his right was blocked by a retractable fence, leaving the left hand path as his only option. As he moved down the hall one of the strange police troopers he'd been seeing stepped out of a passageway on his right, turning to study Gordon silently. There was no way he could possibly have known, but Gordon had the distinct feeling the man was smirking at him.

He tried to slip past without confrontation, but the trooper moved to block him, reaching out with what looked to be some kind of electrified baton and knocking an empty can off the rim of a garbage bin that sat next to the doorway.

"Pick up that can," he commanded, his voice sounding harsh and distorted, as though he was speaking through an electronic filter. Gordon stared at him blankly, making no move to comply with his order.

"Pick up that can," he repeated, louder this time. Gordon leaned down and scooped up the empty receptacle. The label read "Dr Breen's Private Reserve."

"Now put it in the trash can."

Gordon's eyes narrowed. He wasn't a fan of bullies, and he was pretty sure he could take the smug idiot in front of him without too much trouble, but he held himself in check, dropping the can into the trash without a word.

"Alright, you can go," the officer said, turning and walking away with a derisive laugh. Suppressing his desire to walk up behind the uniformed thug and break his neck, Gordon made his way forward into a large hall. It was mostly deserted except for a couple more of the police officers. What had Barney called them? Civil Protection? There was also a group of people waiting in line at some kind of kiosk on the right hand wall, but he had little interest in finding out what it dispensed. Glancing around, his eyes were drawn to a large screen at the far end of the room, which showed a video feed of a man he recognised as Wallace Breen, the former administrator of the Black Mesa facility. He listened for a while, hoping to glean some useful information, but it soon became apparent that despite Dr Breen's eloquent words, and his talk of progress and immortality, at it's heart the speech was the same vile rhetoric he'd seen used to justify rape, torture and genocide on too many other occasions.

He wandered around blindly until he managed to find his way out on to the street, blinking in the bright sunlight and taking in his surroundings. He was in a large plaza, with several roads converging together around a large paved area dominated by a stone obelisk, from which hung another television screen broadcasting the same drivel he'd seen inside. The buildings around the area seemed to confirm his suspicion that he was somewhere in the eastern bloc, however most of his attention was reserved for the immense tower which dominated the skyline, reaching so high that it's upper levels were obscured by cloud. He started at it open mouthed for a long time before pulling himself together and looking for a way out of the plaza he was standing in. As he walked he kept glancing back towards the colossal structure, icy fingers creeping down his spine as it dawned on him that there was no way it could have been built by human hands.

 _Pull yourself together idiot! You spend a couple of days in an alternate dimension and suddenly you're worried about aliens taking over the world. Christ, you're such a nerd!_

Gordon shook his head to clear the unhelpful internal dialogue away as he skulked along, knowing he needed to keep focused on the task at hand. Find Kleiner's lab. If only he knew where that was. It turned out he didn't really have much choice in the path he took, the plaza was closed off by military checkpoints at almost every juncture, so he ended up simply following the path of least resistance, a road to the right which was closed off further down by another barricade. Fortunately he was able to slip silently into an alley which led off between the buildings and into a maze of passages between the crumbling apartment blocks. As he moved along he occasionally caught glimpses of civil protection officers and their vehicles through the gaps in the buildings, once seeing a towering three legged monstrosity, (Which he really, really hoped was some kind of advanced vehicle and not the alien beast it looked like.) stamping down a street to his left. Despite the care he took to remain invisible he was plagued by the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, which seemed ridiculous given he'd barely seen another soul, but he made up his mind to try to find some cover as soon as possible. After several more twists and turns he found himself on a concrete path, heavily overgrown with grass and weeds. On his right he could see two people standing in front of a building, both of them studying another apartment block further down. He approached warily, getting close enough to make out their conversation.

"This is how it always starts. First a building, then the whole block."

"They have no reason to come to our place."

"Don't worry, they'll find one."

Gordon didn't like the sound of that one little bit, and he decided it was high time he got out of the open. Spying an open door on the ground floor of the building opposite, he forced himself to walk slowly in that direction, not wanting to attract undue attention. Once he was inside he moved more quickly, darting along corridors and sprinting up a flight of stairs, only to discover the building was already under siege. A squad of civil protection officers were kicking down a door barely a few metres in front of him, and he hastily slipped through a door to his right, finding himself in the living area of what must have once been a beautiful, spacious apartment, but now looked as decrepit and run down as everywhere else. The floor was littered with garbage, and what little furniture there was had definitely seen better days. There was a television balanced on a small table near the window, Dr Breen's smiling visage delivering more of the propaganda he'd heard earlier, and he had to fight the urge to pick the appliance up and hurl it through the glass. There were two people in the room, a caucasian woman who looked to be in her early thirties and an older black man, both of whom were standing by the windows, staring out onto the street. They spun around when they heard Gordon approach, relaxing visibly when they saw he was dressed like them.

"Oh, I thought you were a cop," the man said, turning back to his vigil.

"He's one of us," the woman responded, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. Gordon joined them at the window for a moment, only pausing long enough to see the squadron of armoured cars pulling up outside the building before moving on. He left the room the way he came in, glancing both ways down the hall to make sure all the civil protection troopers were occupied. Heading right, he made a dash for the stairs at the far end of the corridor. He reached the stairwell just as he heard shouts and crashes behind him and bounded up the stairs two at a time. As he rounded the corner on to the landing of the next level he heard a voice from the hallway to his left.

"Psst! Hey you! In here!"

Needing no second invitation, he swung left and followed the speaker into another room, hearing the door slam behind him. The room with filled with more civilians, obviously attempting to escape the raid going on downstairs, "Head for the roof! There's no time to lose," he heard someone shout, but Gordon was already moving towards the back door. He heard the room erupt into chaos behind him, people screaming and scrambling towards the exits.

"CPs!"

"Here they come!"

Gordon didn't slow, racing through the maze of corridors and up another flight of stairs, barely slipping past another squad of civil protection. He searched frantically for another route as he climbed to the next level, a door on his right opening just as he crested the final step. "Get in here, quick," another stranger yelled to him, slamming the door closed after Gordon entered and bracing himself against it. "Keep moving, head for the roof," he shouted over his shoulder as the door began to shake under the weight of heavy blows. Gordon hesitated at the foot of the staircase on the far side of the room. He was a soldier, he should be fighting to protect these people. He started to turn back, but the man holding the door waved him away.

"Get going," he yelled, "There's nothing you can do here."

Gordon gritted his teeth and started up the stairs, knowing the man was right. He was alone and unarmed, all he could hope to do was to be arrested and dragged away along with everyone else, and allowing himself to be captured here would achieve nothing.

He tore up the first flight of stairs, spinning on the ball of his right foot when he reached the small landing between flights and launching himself onto the next. He had almost reached the top when he heard the unmistakable crack of a pistol from the room below.

 _So that's_ _how it was._

He exhaled with a loud hiss as he vaulted the last two steps and almost slipped over as he crashed down on to the floor, finding himself in a large storage area, directly under the apex of the building's roof. There wasn't much there, besides piles of rubbish and old packing crates, certainly nothing he could hope to conceal himself in. He could hear footsteps on the stairs below and and he swung around frantically, looking for an exit. One presented itself in the shape of a large opening where part of a wall had collapsed, leading out on to a lower section of the building's roof. He sprinted forward, jumping through the opening and rolling as he landed on the unforgiving tile surface. He heard the sound of more gunfire, and the unmistakable whine as the bullets flew past his head. Scrambling to his feet he ran across the roof, zigzagging as much as he dared, not wanting to risk losing his footing. He was forced to pull up short a few seconds later when he reached a point where the roof joined the next apartment block, and left him facing a brick wall that was too high to climb. Dashing to the left, he half ran, half slid his way down the gentle slope of the roof towards a narrow concrete ledge that skirted the top floor of the adjoining building. Shimmying across a couple of conveniently placed wooden planks, he pressed his back against the wall and crept along the ledge, suddenly remembering how much he hated heights. He could see groups of CPs milling around on the street, some simply pointing at him and others opening fire with their handguns. He wasn't particularly worried about getting hit, he was a long way up and the chances of hitting a moving target at that range with a pistol were slim-to-none. The principal of the matter aggravated him no end though.

"What kind of animal takes pot-shots at an unarmed man," he snarled to himself through clenched teeth as he came out onto a wider section of the ledge. Moving as quickly as he dared, he shuffled along, taking cover behind chimneys and rusted air conditioning units where he could. He spotted an open window a little further ahead and made a dash for it, briefly exposing himself to the shooters down below. He was just pulling himself in through the window when a lucky shot grazed his leg, prompting a growl of pain and a particularly obscene string of curses from Gordon. He lay on the floor for a moment to catch his breath before struggling to his feet. A quick glance at his leg showed the wound to be little more than a scratch, and he didn't even bother trying to bandage it up. Glancing around and finding himself in yet another disused attic, he made his way to the room's only exit, a highly questionable set of stairs that led into a tiny room adjoining a hallway. He made it halfway down the stairs before they collapsed under his weight, dumping him unceremoniously onto the hard wooden floor. He pushed himself to his feet with a groan and stumbled out into the hallway. He was just trying to decide which which way to go when the doors at both ends of the corridor exploded inwards, each revealing a squad of civil protection troopers. None of them seemed particularly happy to see him. Heaving a sigh of resignation, he adjusted his glasses and fell into a fighting stance. He had no illusions about making it out alive, but he figured he could at least take a couple of the bastards with him.

Finding Gordon hadn't been particularly difficult, all Alyx had needed to do was follow the sirens. She'd watched silently from the peak of the building's roof as he'd dragged himself through a window and raised an eyebrow at the explosion of profanity that had followed. Thanks to Barney's influence she was perfectly capable of cursing a blue streak when the situation called for it, but this Dr. Freeman had used words she'd never even _heard_ before.

Most of them didn't sound very scientific either.

She'd crossed to the opposite side of the building and let herself down onto a tiny balcony, creeping silently through the empty rooms until she'd come up behind one of the CP squads. She'd watched as they kicked down the door and charged in, shock batons raised. She saw Gordon square himself and sway around the first clumsy strike, grabbing his attacker's arm and pulling him forward, sidestepping and kicking down and sideways against his opponent's knee. He was rewarded with a sickening crack and a shriek of pain as the trooper collapsed to the floor. He was ready for the next swing too, darting inside the reach of his opponent, grabbing him by the shoulders and driving his knee repeatedly into the man's groin. She smirked grimly, having a soft spot for a man who wasn't afraid to fight dirty. He threw the howling officer to the ground and scooped up his fallen baton, whirling around to face the foes behind him. They hesitated for a moment, but Gordon didn't, throwing himself forward and laying about savagely. His momentum failed quickly though, the CP's armour turning most of his strikes, and soon he was forced backwards, whipping the baton back and forth to keep his attackers at bay. He might have bought himself enough time to back out of the hallway if the CP with the shattered kneecap hadn't managed to reach out and grab his leg, taking him by surprise and sending him tumbling into a heap. They were on him then, clubs and fists beating him into the dust. He put up his hands to try and cover his head, kicking out wildly with his legs, and she was pretty sure he actually tried to bite one of them after he took a savage punch to the mouth. Choosing her moment, Alyx picked up a broken lump of timber from the floor beside her and stepped out into the open.

"Hey! Over here," she called out, before darting off to the side and out of the CP's view. The first trooper through the doorway took the full weight of a lump of 2x4 to the forehead and dropped like a stone. The man behind him stumbled over his comrade's body and received similar treatment to the back of his head. Springing over the two bodies, Alyx waded in, hammering her makeshift weapon into the CPs still crouched over Gordon. One managed to get clear and reached for his sidearm, pulling it clear and taking aim with a shaking hand. Alyx bared her teeth in a predatory grin.

"Ha, no you don't," she taunted, before hurling the lump of wood at his face as hard as she could. It didn't do much damage, but it knocked him off balance for long enough for Alyx to close the gap and grab him around the throat, tearing off his helmet and smashing his face into the wall until he went limp. She threw the body to the floor and straightened up, glancing around with a satisfied "Hm."

She moved over to Gordon's unconscious body, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him out of the hall into a larger room. She knelt down beside him and looked him over carefully. He'd taken quite a beating, but nothing seemed to be broken and his eyelids were already starting to flicker. Somehow his glasses had survived unscathed, but they were twisted at a strange angle. She reached out and gently moved them back into place just as his eyes opened. He blinked a few times before focusing on her face, looking thoroughly confused. She smiled down at him.

"Dr. Freeman, I presume."

Gordon opened bleary eyes to find the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen staring down at him. It was a nice change of pace actually.

She said something he didn't quite catch, thanks to the ringing in his ears, and grabbed his hand to pull him to his feet. She suddenly glanced around, listening intently. "We better get going. The Combine can be slow to wake, but once they're up, you don't want to get in their way," she said, hauling Gordon upright and leading him to an industrial elevator in the far corner of the room.

He followed along obediently, too dazed to even ask where she was taking him.

"Dr. Kleiner said you'd be coming this way, I don't think it occurred to him that you might not have a map," she said with a friendly smile as she operated the controls for the elevator. He nodded slowly, it certainly sounded like the Isaac Kleiner he knew; Always forgetting the small details.

He studied the young woman before him as they stepped into the cage, jumping a little when the gate closed behind him with a crash. He was certain he'd never met her before, but something about her eyes seemed familiar in a strange way, and he wracked his brain trying to think of where he could possibly have seen her.

"I'm Alyx Vance," she said, reading his expression with unnerving ease.

"My father used to work with you, back at Black Mesa. I'm sure you don't remember me though." She added, self-consciously tucking some stray strands of hair behind her ear.

Gordon felt his hackles rise and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Now he _knew_ he was being fucked with. He remembered Alyx Vance just fine, she was a beautiful toddler with boundless energy and a smile that nearly took in her ears. If the imposter in front of him had done anything to hurt her...

He briefly considered beating the truth out her, but Gordon had never struck a woman in his life, and damned if he was going to start now, no matter how dire the situation.

"Man of few words, aren't you," she observed dryly as the elevator ground to a halt and the door jerked open.

She chatted to him in an amiable fashion as she led him down a series of corridors and through a hidden door behind a poster of Dr Breen. Gordon was only half listening though, too intent on trying to figure out a way to extricate himself from a situation that only seemed to go from bad to worse.

They finally emerged into a dead end room, containing a pair of the shabby vending machines he'd seen earlier. Gordon tensed, expecting an ambush, but his guide sauntered casually over the right hand machine and fished around in her pocket for some change.

"Here, let me buy you a drink," she said as she deposited the coins and pressed the selection buttons in a seemingly random order, giving the machine a couple of slaps with the heel of her palm for good measure. The front of the machine swung open, revealing a secret passage into what appeared to be a laboratory of some kind.

"Oh, and by the way? Nice to finally meet you," she added, gesturing for Gordon to enter.

He did so with a great deal of trepidation, hands balling into fists as he stooped under the lintel and entered the room beyond.

A laboratory it was, but it hadn't been purpose built, that much was certain. It looked like a converted warehouse, and a very old one at that. The bare concrete walls were almost black with grime and mildew, and the mosaic tile under his feet was so discoloured that he couldn't even begin to speculate what it's original hue might have been. Various pieces of machinery and scientific apparatus were scattered about the edges of the room, seemingly with little regard for their various functions. He only recognised a handful of the equipment, and even that seemed to have been heavily modified from the versions he was familiar with.

He spotted a figure in a white lab coat crouching on the floor a short distance away and moved closer, his whole body tensed and ready to defend himself if need be.

"Blast that little... where did she get to? Lamarr? Come out of there!"

He didn't relax when he heard the person speak with the voice of his old friend and mentor Isaac Kleiner, all but convinced he was the victim of an elaborate ruse.

"Uh-oh. Everything ok Doctor Kleiner," came Alyx's voice from behind him.

"Oh, hello, Alyx," he said, straightening up and turning slowly to face them. "Well, almost alright, Lamarr has gotten out of her crate again. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect Barney of trapping and..." His face suddenly lit up as he caught sight of Gordon. "My goodness! Gordon Freeman! It really is you, isn't it!"

"Hello Isaac," Gordon answered, rather brusquely, "Good to see you again."

Alyx was slightly taken aback when Gordon suddenly spoke, he'd been so silent on the trip here that she was beginning to wonder if he could talk at all, besides swearing of course. He had a strange accent too, but she remembered her father telling her that Gordon had been from Australia, so that probably explained it.

"I found him wandering around outside. Bit of a troublemaker, isn't he," she said, fixing Gordon with a mischievous smile, which he made absolutely no effort to return.

"We owe a great deal to Doctor Freeman, even if trouble does tend to follow in his wake," Dr. Kleiner responded as he bustled over to his desk.

"I must say Gordon, you come at a very opportune time," he went on. "Alyx has just installed the final piece for our resurrected teleport."

Alyx let out a bashful laugh. "I can't take any credit for the breakthrough, Doctor."

"Nonsense, your talents surpass your loveliness."

"Let's just see if this thing works, ok?"

Gordon wandered off while the pair chatted, poking about the lab and inspecting some of the devices that were lying around. He had just begun tinkering with a miniature teleport device, managing to send a small, potted cactus from one tiny portal to another, several feet away, when a door to his left suddenly opened. He spun around, fists raised, but it was only Barney. Or at least, the person who said he was Barney.

"Is he here," he asked, glancing around the room until he spotted Gordon. "There you are. Man Gordon, you stirred up the hive!"

Gordon couldn't help but crack a small smile, "So what else is new," he remarked dryly, prompting a smirk from Barney.

"We can't keep him here long Doc," he went on, speaking To Dr. Kleiner. "It'll jeopardise everything we've worked for."

"Don't worry, he's coming with me," Alyx called out from the other side of the lab.

Gordon's face darkened.

 _Not bloody likely, sweetheart_

"That's right Barney," Dr. Kleiner said, "This is a red letter day. We'll inaugurate the new teleport with a double transmission."

"You mean it's working? For real this time?"

Barney sounded rather sceptical.

"Because I still have nightmares about that cat."

 _Right. That tears it_. _I am not going anywhere near your goddamn teleporter. No way. Not in this lifetime._

"Uhh... What cat," asked Alyx, unknowingly sharing at least a little of Gordon's apprehension.

"Now, now. There's nothing to be nervous about. We've made major strides since then, major strides."

"Doc, since he's not taking the streets, you may as well get him out of his civvies," Barney called out, over Alyx's continued queries about the ill-fated cat.

"What? Oh dear, you're right, I almost forgot. Barney, I'll give you the honour."

"I gotta get back on my shift, but ok."

Barney walked over to an alcove in the wall, separated from the rest of the lab by a retractable door. It opened slowly, revealing a familiar black and orange suit resting in a chamber against the far wall.

"Well Gordon, there she is. Your old suit. Go ahead and put it on."

Gordon stared balefully at the HEV suit, and opened his mouth to tell everyone in the room exactly where they could shove the tangerine death trap that they all seemed to be so proud of, but was interrupted by a familiar high pitched squeal. Barney recognised it too, and spun towards the source of the noise, just in time to catch a flying headcrab to the face. "Get it off me," he wailed, flailing his arms desperately in an attempt to detach the parasite. Gordon instinctively reached for a crowbar that wasn't there, and improvised by seizing a heavy book from a nearby bench and prepared to bludgeon the unfortunate creature to death.

He was only barely prevented from doing so by the hasty intervention of Dr. Kleiner.

"Lamarr! There you are," he said, imposing himself between Gordon and Barney.

Barney finally managed to get free and turned an accusing glare in Kleiner's direction.

"I thought you got rid of that pest!"

"Certainly not. Never fear Gordon, she's debeaked and completely harmless. The worst she might do is attempt to...couple with your head. Fruitlessly."

"Get that thing away from me," Barney snarled, obviously sharing Gordon's belief that the only good headcrab was a dead headcrab.

Lamarr had perched herself on a nearby filing cabinet, squeaking and waving her front mandibles in Barney's direction, obviously offended by his derogatory attitude towards her.

The surreal nature of the scene, combined with the knowledge that people were apparently keeping parasitic monstrosities from the border world as pets, threw the final switch in Gordon's already overloaded brain.

It was time to start asking some hard questions.

He stalked up behind Alyx, who was leaning over a computer terminal, taking care that she didn't notice him. He knew she was armed, he'd seen the handgun on her hip. With practised ease, his hand snaked out and slipped her pistol from its holster. Darting back a step he swung the weapon up and levelled it in the direction of Barney and Dr Kleiner. "Alright everyone, nice and easy," he said in his deep australian drawl. "Before I go anywhere with anyone, I'd very much appreciate someone taking a few minutes to tell me what the _fuck_ is going on around here. Who are you people?"

"Whoa Gordon, what the hell are you doing man," Barney asked, an expression of genuine alarm on his normally jovial face.

Kleiner was similarly distressed, "Gordon please! You know Barney and I, we're your friends!"

"Are you," Gordon asked coldly. "I seem to remember having some friends that _looked_ something like you two. Not sure if that means much at this point though. And _you_ ," he spat, throwing a malevolent glare in Alyx's direction, "I don't know who the hell you are."

Alyx stared at Gordon in shock, but when she spoke her voice was steady, "Gordon I told you, I'm Alyx. Eli Vance's daughter,"

"No you're NOT," Gordon shouted, whipping the pistol around and holding it inches from Alyx's horrified face.

"I know Alyx Vance," he went on, with the exaggerated calm of someone who was just barely holding themselves together. "She's three. I know this because I went to her birthday party two weeks ago. She broke one of the arms off my glasses and rubbed cake on my favourite shirt. You...are not three."

A tiny smile flickered around the corners of Alyx's mouth. "I remember that day," she said, "There weren't very many kids at Black Mesa, so dad invited you, Barney and Dr. Kleiner to make up the numbers. You played hide and seek with me, and after the party we sat on the couch while mom and dad cleaned up, and you read me..."

"...the hungry hungry caterpillar," Gordon finished with her.

Gordon's hand was shaking as he slowly lowered the gun, "It was your favourite," he added, unable to think of anything else to say.

Alyx nodded, relaxing visibly now that she wasn't staring down the barrel of a firearm. "That's right." She paused, face creasing into a frown as she tried to make sense of what was happening. "But Gordon, that was twenty years ago."

Gordon stared blankly at her, trying to process what she had just told him.

"Twenty years..." He stammered, "No, no, no, that can't be right...I was just there! I was just..." He trailed off, looking to Barney and Kleiner for support and finding none.

"I'm sorry man, but Alyx is right," Barney said, "You've been gone a long time."

Gordon felt his legs begin to give way and he leaned on Kleiner's desk for support.

Alyx, showing her usual concern for the welfare of others, grabbed a chair and gently pressed Gordon down into it.

"Easy now, just breathe," she said as Gordon slumped over the desk, eyes staring at nothing. "Twenty years..." He mumbled over and over. Suddenly noticing he was still holding Alyx's pistol, he absently twirled it in his hand and gripped it by the barrel, holding it out towards her without looking up. She took it carefully and replaced it in its holster, making sure to flick the safety catch back on.

"Wait a minute," Barney finally said. "I'm not sure I'm getting this. Gordon, are you saying you don't remember anything from the last two decades?"

"No Barney," he answered. "I'm saying that for me, _there_ _was no last two decades._ " He closed his eyes and tried to think. "I teleported out of the lambda labs," he went on slowly, "And ended up on Xen. I don't know how long I was there, but I'm sure it wasn't more than a day or two. I killed the creature that was orchestrating the attack on earth, and then..." He trailed off, wondering how much of his interaction with the Man he should share. "And then I entered another portal. The next thing I knew I was on a train, taking me to...wherever this is."

"Oh my! But this is simply fascinating," Dr Kleiner broke in, "Think of the implications! I simply must know more about..."

"Dr K," Gordon interrupted, still staring at the desk in front of him. "Do you remember a while back, you and I had a conversation about how some of the things you find fascinating are simply terrifying to other people? And how very, very important it was to know when that was the case?"

"But of course! It was a quite a robust discussion if I remember correctly. As I recall you said... Oh. I'm terribly sorry Gordon, this must be frightfully unsettling."

Alyx crouched down beside Gordon so that she could look him in the face, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Look Gordon, I know you're pretty confused right now, but we need to get moving, and to do that, I need you to trust us. Can you do that? For me?"

She squeezed his arm and offered him her most hopeful smile.

He looked up and smiled back, just for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

"Alright. I can do that I suppose." He straightened up and leaned back in the chair. "So, what have I missed?"

"A lot. And most of it bad. I'll fill you in properly and answer all your questions later, I promise. But please, for now, go get into your suit so we can get going. Dad's waiting for us." Gordon nodded reluctantly and pushed himself to his feet, walking silently to the alcove that housed his suit and shutting the door behind him.

He stood in the near darkness of the room, staring at the orange and black coffin that rested in its charging booth against the wall. He moved closer, running his hands over the suit, feeling the hard contours of the armour plating and wishing with all his heart that he was somewhere else. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the cold metal of the chest piece, fear rising up like a black wave to suffocate him. He knew that once he put on the suit, it would all start again, and there would be no escape, no turning back. Time and time again, it seemed that no matter how far he ran, war would always be waiting for him.

"What am I doing here," he whispered to the empty room, the words seeming to swirl around his head, bouncing back from the dingy concrete walls before fading into silence.

His thoughts drifted back to when a younger Gordon had felt his courage failing him, and he had asked his father the same question.

The answer came back to him too, his father's deep voice as clear in his mind now as it had been all those years ago.

"You're there, boy. The what, and the why, and the how...they don't matter anymore. Just do your job, look after your friends, and above all, shoot straight."

"But I'm afraid," he had whispered.

"That's never stopped you before. _Qui audet adipiscitur._ "

Gordon opened his eyes and smiled to himself. He knew it was only his imagination, but thinking about what his father would have told him, had he been there, was enough to harden his resolve. He stepped back and began unbuttoning his blue shirt.

 _Once more into the breach my friends..._

He emerged a few minutes later looking and feeling much more like his old self. Despite his earlier reluctance, the familiar protection of his HEV suit had done much to calm his frayed nerves, and he even managed a cheeky grin in Barney's direction.

"There's the Gordon Freeman I know," Barney said with an answering smile. "It's good to have you back buddy," he went on, extending a hand which Gordon clasped firmly.

He released Barney and moved over to Alyx, who was still working on part of the teleport system. "Err...Alyx," he began, still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that the strong, capable, young woman in front of him was the same person as the irascible toddler he'd known only a few days prior.

She looked around and smiled when she saw him. "Much better," she observed. And he did look better, his posture was more relaxed and the glassy, cornered animal look in his eyes had been replaced by steely determination.

He smiled back in a nervous way before dropping his eyes and fiddling with the gloves of his suit. "Um, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about before, with the gun and everything. I'm not normally that jumpy, but...well, it's been a bit of a trying day." He looked up and she was suddenly struck but how young and boyish he seemed. "I hope we can still be friends," he added hopefully.

"Of course we can Gordon," she answered with a heart-warming smile. "I don't blame you for being paranoid, today must have come as a hell of a shock," she went on, her features clouding with concern. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Gordon smiled sadly and shook his head.

"Not really, but..." He shrugged. "You do the job that's in front of you."

Alyx nodded slowly, she was impressed. The poor guy had somehow been catapulted twenty years into the future with no warning, been chased halfway across the city, and beaten unconscious by civil protection. For most people, that would have been just about enough to deal with for one day. And yet here he was, suited up and ready to get back to work. Maybe there was some truth to all those crazy stories her Dad had told her about him after all.

"Come on," she said. "Doctor Kleiner is ready for us."

She turned and walked towards the large sliding door that led to the teleport chamber. Gordon started to follow, but turned back to Barney, who was poking around the lab cautiously, presumably looking for Lamarr.

"Barney? It's a big ask I know, but you wouldn't happen to have any..."

"Right here buddy," Barney answered, before Gordon had even finished his question, fishing a small white package out of one of the pouches on his belt and tossing it to Gordon. He snapped it out of the air and inspected it, the front was printed with a stylised target in red and black with the words 'Lucky Strike' across the top. Gordon nodded his thanks and stashed the cigarettes away, along with his lighter, in one of the suit's small utility compartments before following Alyx into the teleport chamber, a lopsided smile creeping across his face. He had his suit, his lighter, and a full deck of Luckies. Perhaps today was going to turn out alright after all.

 _Done. I always struggled a little with the idea of Gordon simply shrugging off the whole time travel aspect of the story, and this is my attempt to address it. I suppose it's another attempt to humanise Gordon a little, I like the idea of him wrestling with the situation, even if he doesn't show it much going forward from here, rather than just being all "Whatevs, got mah crowbar." As a massive Gordon/Alyx shipper, I also love the idea that Gordon needs her just as much as she needs him, so her guiding and helping him along is something I may explore further in future chapters.  
_

 _Peace out guys.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_Well guys, here's my first attempt at a Half Life fic. As you'll discover, I've taken some liberties with both the timeline and Gordon's character. Hopefully it's not too jarring and you enjoy my take on the characters. Any reviews or opinions are appreciated._

Alyx made her way through the maze-like corridors of Black Mesa East. She was at something of a loose end, her shift on sentry duty had finished around ten minutes earlier and there was little to do until dinner was served later in the evening. If she hurried that would give her enough time to get back to her quarters and take a shower, so she made her way to her room as quickly as she could.

After locking her door and removing her utility belt and holster she turned to the small chest of drawers that served as her bedside table. After rummaging around for a few seconds she selected a pair of clean underwear and a comfortable sports bra and a clean if somewhat well-worn t-shirt, it's original black colour having faded to a mottled charcoal. Her room was one of the very few in the facility that had it's own en suite bathroom for which she was extremely grateful, having little desire to share the communal bathrooms with the predominantly male population of the installation.

She moved inside and placed her clean clothes on the packing crate that served as a vanity unit, pausing to glance at her reflection in the scrap of broken mirror that perched atop the wooden box before slowly stripping out of her clothes. She stepped into the shower area and turned on the water, carefully standing to the side while she waited for the icy liquid to warm up. Once it had heated sufficiently she stepped into the water, letting out a sigh of contentment, closing her eyes and simply enjoying the feeling of the water caressing her skin. She didn't waste too much time though, there was barely enough hot water as it was without anyone hogging it. She picked up the soap from the chipped holder on the wall and began to wash herself, the white lather contrasting sharply with the rich brown of her skin. Once she was satisfactorily clean she rinsed herself off and shut off the water, shivering as she stepped out of the shower, and grabbing her towel from a nail that had been driven into the wall. She dried herself off quickly and dressed in the fresh clothes, taking the time to brush the worst of the knots out of her hair and replace her trusty headband.

As she groomed herself her thoughts began to wander. It had been an interesting few days, with her father's erstwhile companion, Dr. Freeman, suddenly reappearing after mysteriously vanishing over two decades ago.

Gordon had arrived at Black Mesa East two days ago and was already settling in well, making himself useful in numerous ways. He seemed equally happy assisting Eli and Dr. Mossman with their continued portal research or chipping in with the other more mundane aspects of the running of the base, even spending some time on sentry duty with Alyx and the Vortiguants, which they definitely appreciated, although she privately believed that perhaps a theoretical physicist wasn't the ideal choice for combat duty. Of course she had heard the stories about Black Mesa from her father as well as the more fanciful versions popular amongst the other resistance members, most of which she'd dismissed as fiction or dumb luck on Gordon's part. She had a hard time believing a single scientist with no combat training had managed to do even half of the things with which he was credited.

There was something about him though...

He had managed to make it to Black Mesa East on his own after all, which was no small feat. She shrugged to herself as she left the bathroom and collected her weapon from the end of her bed. Time would tell.

As she headed back towards the living area she found herself thinking more about Gordon. All concerns about his skills aside, she had to admit he was good company, and she very much enjoyed having him around. He was quiet and soft spoken for the most part, his deep voice and thick Australian accent (which Alyx had never heard before and found more charming than she cared to admit) setting him apart from the other people she knew. He had an odd, dry sense of humour that most people, including Alyx didn't seem to get a lot of the time. It didn't seem to stop him trying to make people laugh though, which she found quite endearing. He was quite cute too, in his own way, with his scruffy beard, heavy framed nerd specs and piercing green eyes. Not exactly Prince Charming, but very cute nonetheless. She was approaching the dining room, planning to secure herself a seat before the rush, when she heard the sound of metallic clinking and a muttered curse from the doorway of a small rec room further down the corridor. She moved closer and popped her head around the edge of the door frame.

Gordon was sitting in an ancient lounge chair, with a half dozen old assault rifles laid out on the cracked glass coffee table in front of him. Tools, magazines and loose ammunition were scattered about the table as well. He was leaning forward, chin resting on his hand, seemingly deep in thought. Alyx didn't know much about the weapons he seemed to be working on, not having had much to do with early 21st century firearms. From what she could see however, they seemed to be various configurations of the same basic weapon, probably liberated from the armoury, which in addition to the more standard weapons of the Combine and Resistance held a fair number of unusual pieces that had either been forgotten about or had been damaged and no one knew how to repair them any more. She watched in silence as he began stripping the weapons down, carefully examining the components, which he separated into different piles, presumably based on their purpose and condition. There was an open bottle next to him on the table, probably some of the revolting homemade beer a few of the Resistance members brewed up in the basement. A pack of cigarettes rested beside it, the plain wax paper marked with a yellow lambda symbol. A soft chortle escaped from Alyx, marvelling at the fact that even in a dystopian hellhole someone, somewhere, had found a way to grow tobacco.

As she watched, Gordon reached out and flicked the bottom of the packet with his fingers, causing a single cigarette to pop from the hole in the top of the pack. He extracted it deftly and fumbled around with his other hand, still focused on the weapons in front of him, until he came up with a battered, silver lighter. Flicking it expertly, he carefully lit his smoke and took a long draw, exhaling a stream of grey smoke towards the ceiling. Alyx studied him for a long moment, her brain finally registering the fact that he was naked from the waist up, a grubby white shirt draped over the back of his chair. She wondered why she hadn't noticed earlier. Her forehead creased into a frown. Now that she was paying attention, he _really_ didn't look like a scientist. She wasn't exactly sure how she had expected him to look, but it certainly wasn't this... burly. He had broad shoulders and the toned muscles in his arms stood out in sharp relief. They were covered in tattoos as well, from his wrists all the way up to his shoulders and over to his neck. His right arm was facing towards her and she could clearly see an insignia drawn in black and grey ink on his bicep, it looked like a pair of spreading wings with a sword or dagger of some kind between them. There was a motto underneath too, but she couldn't make out the words. Her slight frown remained, but a curious smile pulled at the edges of her mouth. Dr Freeman seemed to possess an interesting story...

"I won't bite."

...And excellent hearing it seemed.

He looked across his right shoulder at her and flashed her a warm smile.

She smiled back and came into the room, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite him.

He tapped his cigarette into the broken coffee mug he was using as an ashtray and fixed her with his soft green eyes.

"Anything interesting up top today," he asked.

"Not really, just the usual patrols. Nothing to be concerned about," she replied.

"What are you up to in here?" She asked, gesturing towards the weapons on the table

He glanced down at the debris and chuckled.

"Nothing much really. I think I can salvage enough working parts from all these to make one useful rifle. Hopefully anyway."

Alyx leaned forward and studied the guns more closely, she could just make out a stamp on the receiver of the closest weapon which read: "Rifle 7.62mm Knights Manufacturing Company."

She nodded slowly before replying.

"Well, that will be handy I guess," not really sure of what else to say. She noticed one of the standard CP issue USP handguns at the very edge of the table and reached out to pick it up. He'd been modifying this too by the looks of it; The compensator had been removed and the barrel cut down flush with the frame. The stainless steel slide had also been re-coloured somehow to a dead grey. He watched her look over the weapon before speaking. "I was never a big fan of the compensator on those, the extra weight and bulk never seemed worth the small reduction in muzzle climb."

He snorted dismissively. "It's not like they're accurate past 50 meters or so anyway."

Alyx nodded slowly and turned her attention back to the rifles.

"You do know we have guns that already work right," she finally asked, looking up at him with a smile.

He chuckled softly.

"Yes, I know. I was hoping for something with a slightly longer reach though."

Alyx cocked her head to the side quizzically and waited for him to elaborate.

"Most of the weapons I've seen so far seem to be optimised for close quarters," Gordon went on. "Compact, light weight, high calibre low velocity cartridges, open sights..."

He took a drag from his cigarette before continuing.

"They're all very well in confined spaces, but on open ground they're severely lacking in range and accuracy."

He rested his cigarette on the edge of the coffee cup and picked up one of the bullets lying on the table.

"See this," he asked, holding it up in front of Alyx. "Winchester .308. This thing will blow a hole the size of your fist through a concrete wall at five hundred metres. But more importantly, with the right gun, it's accurate way past that range."

He put the bullet down and picked up the rifle Alyx had been looking at earlier. It looked rather worse for wear, scrapes and dints visible in numerous places. A few parts seemed to have been painted in a vague camouflage pattern, in contrast to the rest of the weapon which presumably had once been a uniform black, but now had large patches of bare metal showing through the paint. It was fitted with a large telescopic sight, similar to those Alyx had used on captured Combine sniper rifles.

"This is what we used to call an SR25. It's chambered for the cartridge I just showed you. As you can see it's usually fitted with a long range scope, but..." Gordon paused and began to loosen the thumb screws holding the scope in place until he was able to carefully slide it off the mounting rails. He placed it on the table and selected a smaller scope which Alyx had seen him remove from one of the other rifles and slid it into position, adjusting the mounting screws until it was firmly in place. "If we put this on, it suddenly becomes a lot more useful up close, while still letting us engage your average Combine grunt way outside their comfort zone."

He spun the rifle in his hands, offering it to Alyx, stock first. She reached out and took it, bouncing it in her hands a get a feel for the weight. It was lighter than she expected, although it still seemed a little long and unwieldy for her liking. She pulled it up into her shoulder and sighted down the scope at the cabinet on the other side of the room. The weapon felt comfortable in her hands and she couldn't help but smile a little at the idea of taking aim at a Combine soldier.

"It still needs some work," Gordon said, pulling her back to reality. "I should have most of the parts I need here, but the firing pin is shot. You're an engineer right? Is that something you could make for me?"

Alyx lowered the weapon and placed it back on the table. She looked up to see Gordon holding out a long, needle like object that she recognized as the broken firing pin he was talking about. She took it from his hand and studied it for a minute "Looks pretty simple, I should be able to turn this up on the lathe in an hour or two." She examined the object more closely, seeing where the end had been sheared off, rendering it useless. "As long as you know exactly how big it's supposed to be, it should be no problem at all." She handed the pin back to Gordon with a smile.

Gordon put the object back into the pile of bits it came from and smiled back at her.

"That's great, I really appreciate your help."

The pair stared at each other for just a little longer than was comfortable before Alyx broke the silence with an embarrassed cough.

"So... You ummm... Really know your way around a gun huh?"

Gordon responded with a wry chuckle, his eyes staring down at the weapon in front of him. "I've picked up a few things here and there," he finally responded, glancing up at her and reaching up to push his glasses back into place on the bridge of his nose.

There was something about the way he said that...

Alyx studied him carefully for a long moment as he stubbed out the butt of the cigarette he had put down earlier and lit a fresh one, making an effort to blow the smoke away from Alyx's face.

With a soft sigh Gordon leaned back in his chair, cigarette dangling from his fingertips and fixed her with a strange smile. From this angle she could clearly see the chiseled muscles of his abdomen and chest. She returned his gaze, part of her feeling like she should be uncomfortable, but for some reason she wasn't. She narrowed her eyes a little and the edge of her mouth curled up in a half smile.

"What?" She asked finally.

"Not what you expected huh?"

The abrupt question promoted a chortle of laughter from Alyx.

"Not... exactly." Her smile widened. "I figured you'd be... taller."

Now it was Gordon's turn to laugh

"People still use that joke eh?"

"I'm afraid so."

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Alyx spoke again.

"You don't really look like any of the scientists I've met."

Gordon raised an eyebrow, still smiling.

"No?"

"No," she answered with a slight shake of her head. "Honestly, between the tattoos and the HEV suit, you seem more like... I don't know. A space biker?"

Gordon leaned his head back and roared laughing.

"A space biker?" He asked in disbelief once he had gotten control of himself. "Is that a thing now?"

Alyx shook her head with a laugh. "Well, not that I know of... But I mean... we can make it a thing if you like the idea."

Gordon struck a pensive pose, fingers stroking his goatee and staring at the ceiling. "Gordon the Space Biker..." He mused out loud. "I'm not sure if that sounds right somehow."

"Well, we can just stick with Gordon for now then."

Their laughter died away slowly and Gordon fixed her with a more serious look, reaching up to adjust his glasses before speaking.

"Alyx, did um... Did your Dad ever tell you about how he and I met?"

A little confused at the sudden change of subject, Alyx frowned a little and cocked her head to the side.

"No... I just always assumed it was when you came to work at Black Mesa."

Gordon nodded slowly.

"I see. Well, it was actually quite a while before that. Several years in fact."

Alyx, suddenly very intrigued, leaned forward in her chair.

"Physics was not my original career choice," Gordon went on.

"Hard to believe I know, what with the money and the fame and the legions of attractive young women beating down my door at all hours."

Alyx burst out laughing at this, clamping her hand over her mouth and screwing her eyes shut as she tried to master herself.

Gordon simply smiled his roguish half smile and waited for her mirth to die down.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Alyx gasped, still wracked by giggles. "Please, go on."

"Ok, ok," Gordon answered, before very deliberately clearing his throat to mask his own laughter.

"Before that, I was a soldier. I was in the army. The Australian Special Air Service Regiment, to be precise."

The name didn't mean anything to Alyx, but from the way Gordon spoke, it seemed important.

"We were a special forces unit. We..." Gordon trailed off uncomfortably for a moment

"We were trained to a very high standard. Far beyond that of regular soldiers."

Alyx, a little confused by the serious turn the conversation had suddenly taken nodded slowly.

"Tough cookies huh?"

Gordon smiled a cold, mirthless smile.

"Oh we were tough alright."

He paused again, staring off into the distance.

"Anyway," He finally went on, "one of the things we were trained to do was dealing with nuclear devices. Not the technical side of them so much, but the basics of how to secure and transport them safely." He paused again and puffed on his cigarette. "We didn't keep a lot of physicists on staff so every now and again they'd hire a professor to run some workshops on the best ways to not get blown to hell. Your Dad drew the short straw my first year out of training."

"Ahhhhhh... So that's how you met," Alyx said with a smile. "Funny he never mentioned that."

Gordon chuckled and shifted his weight on the chair.

"Not really, I don't think he enjoyed it very much. He and your mother hadn't been married all that long and he missed her terribly. And besides, I don't imagine it was much fun trying to explain the finer points of atomic fission to a room full of surly, disinterested army grunts. Myself and a couple of the other guys tried to make him as welcome as we could though, I'd always loved maths and physics in high school and found his lectures quite fascinating, so I ended up spending quite a lot of time talking with him after hours. He used to joke about getting me to leave the army and go back to college. Said I was wasted spending my days lugging a rifle around."

He paused for a moment and leaned forward to stub out his cigarette. "Anyway, after he went back to the 'States we kept in contact from time to time but we didn't see each other again for another couple of years. During that time he came to work at Black Mesa and I... well...I did what I'd been trained to do," he sighed. "It was a difficult couple of years. Things happened, I lost friends and I ended up becoming something I didn't like very much."

He paused, studying Alyx's face and trying to gauge her reaction to what he was telling her. She sat gazing at him intently, a hint of sadness in her wide hazel eyes.

"How'd you get out?" She asked eventually.

"Well, I ended up spending some time on loan to the US Army, teaching classes on advanced urban assault and hostage rescue. My contract was almost up and I'd been taken off active duty. Everyone, including me figured I'd just re-enlist anyway, so it was a way of giving me some down time before I went back onto a combat rotation."

A slow smile spread across Gordon's face and he looked up at Alyx with a twinkle in his eyes. "Luckily, your Dad had other ideas. I'd spoken to him a few times on the phone while I was there and then one day he showed up out of the blue at the hotel I was staying at just before I was supposed to fly home. He invited me to come and stay with him and Azian for a few days. Said he had a proposal for me."

Alyx smiled and nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"We drove out to New Mexico together and I spent a week with him and your mother at Black Mesa. It was..." he trailed off, eyes staring at nothing, "...wonderful. They treated me like family, like I was their son. I'll never forget that. Anyway, while I was there your father outlined his grand plan. Somehow he'd managed to secure me a place at MIT. Damned if I know how he did it. Whenever I asked he'd always just go on about 'pulling a few strings' or 'calling in a favour' but I suspect it was considerably more complicated than that. They were prepared to offer me a place in their science program. Even giving me some partial credits towards my degree for the technical courses I'd done in the army. There was no way your dad was taking no for an answer, and besides... The chance to do something I enjoyed in a place where I didn't get shot at or have to kill anyone, to be a regular human being again..."

Gordon smiled fondly at the memory.

"He didn't have to twist my arm that much. I flew home for a couple of weeks to finalize my discharge and tell my parents what I was doing and then I was back at MIT, firmly convinced my soldiering days were finished."

He looked down at the rifles on the table and smirked. "Funny how things work out."

Alyx looked at him sadly.

"No escape huh," she asked softly.

Gordon smiled a wry smile and shook his head slowly.

"I remember talking to my old Sergeant, telling him about how I was leaving and going off to study the wonders of the universe. He laughed at me and said 'Freeman, wherever you go, there you are again'. I didn't really know what he meant at the time, but looking back he was dead right."

"I'm sorry things didn't work the way you hoped Gordon," Alyx said, looking at him compassionately.

He glanced up at her, studying her face like he was searching for something before slumping back into his chair and blowing out an exasperated breath.

"Christ I'm a selfish prick," he muttered before reaching out for another cigarette. Alyx stared at him in bafflement as he lit up.

"What? Why would you say that," she asked, frowning at him.

"Because here I am, bitching and moaning about how tough life is to someone who grew up having to watch the entire world get destroyed around them. And instead of telling me to pull my head out of my arse you're sweet enough to sit there feeling sad for me." He shook his head. "I don't deserve any sympathy from you Alyx. Compared to what you and your dad and everyone else has been through the last twenty years, my life has been a goddamn holiday."

Gordon took a drag on his cigarette and glared at the floor, shaking his head slowly.

Alyx stared at Gordon in silence for some time, not sure what to say.

"Gordon," she finally said.

He kept staring at the floor, refusing to acknowledge her.

"Gordon, look at me," she said, more firmly than before. He looked up this time, meeting her eyes at last.

"Gordon, no one blames you for not being here," she went on quietly.

"Yeah? Well I do." He answered bitterly. He didn't drop his eyes again though.

"This isn't your fault," she continued. "And the important thing is, you're here now. And we're glad you're back."

The ghost of a smile flickered across Gordon's face.

"That means a lot," He told her. "You're a lot like your dad, you know that?"

Alyx grinned at him.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should. It's the highest praise I know how to give," he answered with a soft smile.

As if on que Eli's voice boomed from down the hallway

"Alyx! Dinners's ready."

The pair shared a laugh before Alyx called out,

"Coming Dad."

"It was nice talking to you Gordon," she said as she pushed herself up out of her chair.

"Yeah, you too," he smiled. "Maybe we can make it a regular thing, I'll be all mopey and sad and you can slap some sense into me."

This prompted a girlish laugh from Alyx.

"Alyx, come on. It's getting cold," came Eli's voice again, just as the man himself came into view through the doorway.

"Hey Gordon," He said with a smile as he took in the scene. "You two are getting along well I see."

"We sure are." Alyx answered, moving forward to kiss her father's cheek. "Gordon was just telling me some stories about you and him in the old days, before the Combine."

"Hm, nothing too sordid I hope," the older man replied with a smile.

"No, nothing like that," Gordon chimed in, climbing out of his chair and stubbing out his cigarette. "I was telling her how we met back in the day."

"I see," Replied Eli. "Well, I'm glad to see you two getting to know one another. Come on, you don't want to miss the headcrab stew."

Alyx let out a groan.

"Again? Surely there must be something else the Vortiguants know how to cook."

"Beggars can't be choosers Alyx," Eli answered, and gave his daughter a gentle push in the direction of the door. She flashed Gordon a brilliant smile before disappearing around the corner in the direction of the dining room.

Eli looked over at Gordon who was chugging the last of the vile home brew and stuffing his cigarettes into his pocket.

"Still trying to impress girls with your war stories I see," he said with a grin.

Gordon set the bottle down on the table and looked up with a wan smile.

"War stories only impress people who've never had to fight one mate."

Eli's smile faded.

"Ain't that the goddamn truth," he muttered, half to himself.

Gordon moved closer and reached out to squeeze the older man's shoulder affectionately. Eli nodded appreciatively and returned the gesture.

"You've got a hell of a daughter there Eli," Gordon said with a smile.

Eli chuckled, his eyes twinkling.

"You ain't seen the half of it. Come on, let's eat." He turned away and headed for the door.

"Oh and uh.. Gordon," he said, looking over his shoulder, "For God's sake put some clothes on. You look like a thug."

And with that he was gone.

Gordon chuckled to himself and plucked his shirt from the top of the chair, pulling it over his head.

"I am a thug," he said to no one in particular, before following Eli down the hall.

 **And we're done. As I said, hopefully my version of Gordon doesn't upset everyone too much. If you're wondering why I made him Australian, it's because I'm Australian, so when I play HL Gordon is too. This is a one-shot for now, but I do have a few more ideas, so if you like my re-imagining of Gordon as a wise-cracking, chain smoking, SASR vet let me know and I'll make an attempt at expanding the story to a few more chapters. Any reviews are appreciated. Peace out**


	3. Chapter 3

_Round two guys, the adventures of down under Gordon continue. I decided to keep these as separate stories rather than chapters simply because inspiration is a little sporadic for me, so whilst this follows directly after "You Think You Know Someone" the next one might occur some time in the past. Thankyou to everyone who reviewed my previous story, I appreciate your kind and generous comments and hope you all enjoy this next instalment._

Gordon lay awake in his room at black mesa east, staring vacantly at the crumbling concrete ceiling and shifting his weight on the narrow bed. He wasn't sure what time it was, but judging by the silence from the rooms nearby, it was still an hour or two before dawn. He didn't usually have trouble sleeping, but tonight he'd been restless and uncomfortable, unable to get more than a couple of hours proper rest.

The last two days had been extremely quiet, with Eli and Judith Mossman spending most of their time fine tuning the teleport system, a task which required little to no input from Gordon, leaving him to his own devices for the most part. He'd whiled away one very enjoyable day with Alyx, half of which had been spent in her workshop, putting the finishing touches on the battle rifle they'd been working on, and the other half out on the makeshift shooting range at the far end of Dog's scrap yard, zeroing in the ACOG scope and making sure the weapon was working satisfactorily.

Miss Vance was rapidly becoming one of Gordon's favourite people; She was friendly, selfless, courageous and empathetic, as well as being intelligent, highly skilled and completely dedicated to the Resistance's cause. Of course she was also one of the most beautiful, charming and utterly captivating young women Gordon had ever had the privilege of meeting, but he tried very hard to think of that as superfluous next to all her other less tangible qualities. He had hoped to spend the next day in her company as well, but unfortunately she was needed elsewhere and had headed out after breakfast, leaving Gordon to amuse himself.

He'd tried to stay productive, spending a few hours running calculations with Eli and the rest of the afternoon putting the finishing touches on the combat rig he'd been piecing together. While the HEV suit made body armour unnecessary, he had found the lack of other tactical equipment extremely frustrating on his flight from City 17, being reduced to simply discarding perfectly good weapons because he had no means of carrying spare ammunition. The black mesa east armoury had a mismatched collection of tac vests, bandoliers, holsters and slings, several of which he'd "borrowed" and cobbled together into something resembling a tactical chest panel, allowing him to carry his SR25, a captured MP7 and a sidearm, along with half a dozen magazines for each weapon and a selection of grenades. He'd also rigged up a backpack that would hold supplies for two days and some extra loose ammunition.

He'd gone to bed early that night, planning on getting plenty of rest and being up early to meet Alyx when she returned from checking in with another rebel cell. He was certainly up early, so at least half his plan had worked out. With a groan he threw the blankets off and kicked his legs over the side of the bed, forcing himself up into a sitting position. He groped around for his glasses, plucking them from the top of the rickety three legged stool that he was using as a bedside table. He put them on and blinked as his eyes adjusted, the room around him coming into focus. His HEV suit was resting in a charging bay on the far wall and the rest of his gear was stacked next to the door. He rose from the bed and retrieved his underwear from the pile of laundry on the floor, slipping them on absently while he continued to study his equipment. He was quite proud of having been able to macgyver it all together from scraps, and having it on made him feel like a real soldier again, although he would have appreciated the opportunity to test his makeshift rig before relying on it in the field. If only there was some way to...

A thoughtful smile spread across Gordon's face. Alyx wasn't due back till around mid-morning, that gave him at least six hours or so. Leaving the HEV suit where it was, he dressed in some old combat fatigues, wrapped a tattered black scarf around the lower part of his face like a shemagh, and began strapping on his equipment.

Half an hour later he made his way stealthily through the base and slipped out through one of the small service hatches that led to the top of the base. Taking a deep breath of the cool morning air he headed off towards one of the patches of woodland that dotted the area.

Alyx arrived at black mesa east shortly before midday. She was in a good mood, the trip back had seen swift and uneventful, owing to a noticeable reduction in the number of combine patrols in the area. She had been worried at first, particularly on those occasions when her ears had picked up the distant sound of gunfire, but on arriving at the base and finding nothing amiss she had dismissed her concerns as paranoia. She went straight to the main lab to see her father, hoping that perhaps Gordon would be there too. "Dad, I'm back," She called out as she entered. "Are you in here?"

"Right here sweetheart," Eli answered, chambering out from behind some machinery. "Thank goodness you're back safe."

Eli pulled his daughter into a tight hug, which she happily returned.

"Everything go ok," he asked with a smile.

"Yes, fine," Alyx replied. "They're all set to start receiving refugees as soon as the teleport system is online."

"Good, good." Eli answered. "The sooner we can start getting people away from the city the better."

Alyx nodded in agreement and glanced around the lab. "Is Gordon here? He was supposed to meet me outside but he never showed up." She said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the twinge of disappointment out of her voice.

"Stood you up huh," Eli quipped with a wide smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure he's around here some place." Eli suddenly looked thoughtful. "Although come to think of it, I haven't seen him all morning." He thought for a moment before calling out "Judith? Have you seen Gordon today?"

"No," Came the reply from the back of the lab, "Not since dinner last night."

"Now where has that boy gotten to," Eli murmured to himself, stroking his beard absently.

Alyx suddenly felt sick. "Oh no..." She breathed, her face turning pale.

"What is it honey," Eli asked, face full of concern.

"On the way here, there didn't seem to be as many combine around as there usually are. I didn't think much of it at the time but..." She looked up at her father, her eyes fearful "I'd swear I heard shooting, out in the woods to the west."

Eli looked grave. "Go get Dog," He said finally, "I'll go make sure no one else has seen him."

Alyx ran off in the direction of the scrap yard while Eli called the elevator and made his way from level to level, asking everyone he could find for news of Gordon. He was in the kitchen questioning some of the guards when Alyx caught up with him. "Dog's outside checking the perimeter, has anyone seen him?" Her voice was almost pleading. Eli shook his head sadly. "No luck I'm afraid. I'm sure he'll turn up though, he can look after himself," he said with more conviction than he felt.

"He has to be ok, he just _has_ to be." Alyx whispered, staring at the floor. She looked up at her father, eyes wide and fearful. "Dad, what if..."

"Now, now. Let's not go jumping to conclusions," Eli hastily broke in. "Let's go and see if..."

"Excuse me," came the voice of a Vortiguant from behind Eli. "Do you seek the Freeman?"

"Yes!" Alyx and Eli answered together.

"He went out before dawn, when all others were asleep. This one saw him go through the maintenance hatch on level four," the alien went on.

"Did you ask where he was going," Eli asked, a touch of desperation creeping into his usually calm voice.

"It is not our place to question The Opener Of The Way," the stoic creature answered. "But he went forth armed for war."

Alyx had heard enough.

"I'm going after him," she stated in a tone the brooked no arguments. Eli nodded slowly, knowing how futile it was to argue with her when she'd made up her mind. "At least take Dog with you," he called after her as she ran for the elevator. She didn't answer, smashing the button for the top floor with the heel of her palm as she stepped into the metal cage.

As the elevator rose and Eli disappeared from sight she heard her father shout "And please Alyx, be careful."

Gordon was in trouble and he knew it. Things had been going so well too; He'd stayed hidden until he had put several miles between himself and Black Mesa East, easily slipping past the CP patrols and melting into the trees like a ghost. He'd moved slowly and carefully through the belt of woodland until he reached a dirt road that cut through the forest. Making an educated guess that it had once been an access road leading to the hydro plant that now housed black mesa east, he decided to follow it to the west to see what lay in that direction. He had slipped silently through the trees, pausing every hundred metres or so to listen intently for any signs that he wasn't alone. The oppressive, unnatural silence had soon begun to unnerve him, his combat honed instincts screaming in his head that something wasn't right and he had slowed his pace to a crawl, dropping to his belly and creeping forward through the undergrowth like a snake.

It wasn't long before the tell-tale sound of heavy boots on gravel and the dull clink of weapons drifted through the trees towards him. He had paused for a moment to check his equipment and flick the safety off on his rifle before creeping closer, using his ears to guide him towards the enemy. He had moved forward less than fifty metres when he caught his first glimpse of his quarry, a dozen heavily armed troops gathered around a small structure next to the road. He could see immediately that they weren't civil protection, their equipment was much more military in appearance, with heavier body armour and a much more serious arsenal. There was also something off about them, he couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something... wrong with them. He'd been around soldiers his entire life and he'd never seen a squad so quiet when they were making no effort to conceal themselves. No one laughed or swore or smoked...

And he couldn't see any exposed skin anywhere, even their faces were completely covered by masks and goggles.

They didn't seem to be particularly alert for danger for all of their fearsome appearance though, most were simply standing around watching the road, occasionally flicking a glance towards the surrounding forest, with two of them working on some kind of console attached to the installation. There wasn't much to the structure, it was simply a metal pillar on each side of the road with some power cables attached at various points. It looked like a checkpoint of some kind, but without any sort of boom or gate to actually stop anyone. Gordon hadn't understood how it could be effective until he'd noticed some strange scintillation in the air between the pillars, suggesting there was some kind of forcefield in place. It still seemed rather pointless, given there was no traffic in any direction, but he filed the information away for later consideration and prepared to move out, not planning on picking a fight with anyone if he didn't have to.

He had just begun to slink away when the the sound of approaching footsteps had forced him to freeze in place, hugging the ground and hardly daring to breathe. A trio of soldiers emerged from the denser trees to his left, strung out in a loose single file formation, with about three metres separating each trooper. They were obviously patrolling the area around the road block, through fortunately they didn't spare much attention for the long grass Gordon was concealed in, their attention mainly focused on the spaces between the trees. He heard them speak to one another occasionally, but their speech was so distorted by their breathing apparatus that he couldn't make out the words. The first two walked past without noticing him, their footsteps barely three feet from where Gordon was lying with his face pressed into the dirt. He was just beginning to breathe more easily when the rearguard managed to catch his boot against the barrel of Gordon's rifle. He stumbled and whirled around with a garbled cry of surprise, looking directly at Gordon. Knowing the game was up, Gordon had surged to his knees and pulled his weapon up to his shoulder, firing point blank at the chest of the stunned soldier. The 7.62mm round had torn through his polymer armour like it was rotten cloth, splattering the ground behind him with blood and bone fragments. His two squad mates were just raising their weapons when Gordon fired twice more, taking the closest in the throat and the second through the right eye socket.

And then he was running, the sounds of pursuit echoing through the trees behind him. He hadn't been particularly worried at this point, planning on losing his assailants in the thick bush and circling around to make his way back to the lab unnoticed. It had been working too, until he got shot the first time. It was only a grazing hit, the bullet clipping his left shoulder and cutting a furrow through the flesh, but it had been a while since he'd been shot without the protection of the HEV suit and the sudden pain had come as a jarring shock. He'd gritted his teeth and pushed himself to put on a burst of speed, managing to gain enough breathing room to stop and assess the damage, taking cover behind a fallen tree trunk. The wound wasn't mortal by any means, but it was bleeding profusely, staining his sleeve with bright arterial blood, and he knew that he had to staunch the flow as quickly as possible. He had only brought the most basic of first aid supplies with him, just some field dressings and medical alcohol, no painkillers or coagulants, so he did what he could, packing the wound with gauze and applying a dressing to try to stem the blood loss. While he patched himself up he could hear the combine soldiers closing the gap behind him, and as soon as the dressing was in place he dashed forward, trying to extend his meagre lead. A burst of machine gun fire from directly in front of him changed that plan, and he swung to the left, bolting through the trees in the direction of black mesa east. As he ran he tried to figure out how any of the combine had managed to get in front of him. He was reasonably certain they couldn't run that much faster than him, otherwise they would have caught up long ago, and in the dense bush motorised transport was out of the question. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he realised it must have been a different group, leaving him even more badly outnumbered than he'd originally thought. He knew if he was going to make it out alive he'd have to even the odds a bit, and he began studying his surroundings in more detail, slowly formulating a plan to turn the tables on the combine.

An opportunity had presented itself a few short minutes later, in the shape of two very large trees growing side by side in a particularly dense area of the forest. The trees were so close that any group moving in that direction would be forced to travel in single file and the thickness of the undergrowth heavily discouraged any other path. Gordon had slipped between the trees and crouched down beside the trunk of the leftmost, slipping a grenade from his vest and carefully placing it between the branching roots that protruded from the ground in such a way as to be clearly visible from his side but easily overlooked by anyone travelling the other way.

Once the explosive was in place he had crept away until he found an overgrown shrub that would offer some concealment and set himself up, checking that he had a bullet in the chamber and taking careful aim at the grenade. It wasn't long before a group of combine had entered into the area, they were moving slowly and carefully, doing a thorough search. Gordon had waited patiently until they had bunched up to move between the trees, letting half the squad get through before he fired, his bullet detonating the grenade and throwing the enemy unit into chaos. Several had been killed outright by the blast and several more had mortal wounds, their twisted, shattered forms littering the ground. The ones at the back who had survived the explosion immediately tried to push through the gap, only to be greeted by a hail of bullets. Gordon made sure every shot counted, his full metal jacket rounds sometimes punching through two soldiers at a time, and soon the whole platoon lay dead or dying, screams and death rattles echoing through the trees.

And so had begun a day long game of cat and mouse, with Gordon mostly running for his life and occasionally springing ambushes on the hunting parties. The combine had the worst of it for the most part, losing almost three full platoons of soldiers, but Gordon didn't have it all his own way, taking several grazing hits from bullets and a few grenade fragments as well. On their own, none of the wounds were life threatening, but together they were slowly wearing him down. He managed to keep moving for the most part, sometimes doubling back over ground he'd already covered in an attempt to confuse his foes. He passed the road block where his cover had been blown several times and discovered another similar installation across a smaller track in another in another part of the forest further to the west. He'd stumbled across a collection of ancient, abandoned buildings overlooking the canals closer to black mesa east and had considered holding up there until the pursuit had died down, but a closer inspection revealed a squad of combine had taken up residence inside, so he'd snuck away as quickly as possible.

Shortly after this things had taken a turn for the worse. He'd been scouting the edge of the tree line, hoping to find a clear path back to the lab when he had discovered a small wooden shack just outside the forest. Knowing any combine soldiers would be sure to check it, he had waited just inside the edge of the woods until a five man team had wandered into the area, moving directly to the building and searching it for any sign of him. He was closer to them than he would have liked, barely twenty metres separating the troopers and his hiding place, but he was desperate. The sun was going down and he knew he was running out of time and daylight, so he had sprung his trap anyway, breaking from cover and opening fire. Four of the five enemies were down in seconds and he'd pulled the trigger on the fifth as well, only to discover he'd mis-counted his ammunition and the rifle's magazine was empty. He'd pulled his sidearm and emptied it into the combine's chest, but not before the enemy soldier had a chance to squeeze off a few shots, one of them taking him in the thigh, the high velocity MP7 round punching straight through his leg and leaving him flat on the ground. Snarling and swearing from the pain he'd managed to drag himself the short distance to the shack and crawl inside before his vision started to blur from pain and blood loss. He'd dressed the wound as best he could in his weakened state, but he knew that without proper medical attention he only had about an hour before he bled out. He thought it highly unlikely it would come to that though, the combine would find him long before then.

And now here he was, slowly bleeding to death in the middle of nowhere, with no support, next-to-no ammunition and only two cigarettes left. He lit one and smoked it slowly, savouring the flavour while he unshipped his weapons and what ammo he had left, arranging them on the floor in front of him within easy reach. A small smile pricked at the corners of his mouth as he considered that at least he wouldn't have to explain to Alyx what a damn fool he'd been.

Alyx was almost in tears from worry and frustration. She'd been tracking Gordon for hours and still hadn't managed to catch a glimpse of him, the only signs of his passing were the three dozen dead Overwatch troopers she'd found scattered around various parts of the woods. She and Dog had taken down several patrols themselves, and they hadn't seen or heard anyone for some time now. She knew it was getting late, the sun would be setting soon and they would be forced to retire until the morning. She couldn't bear the thought of Gordon spending the night out here alone with the combine, but she knew if she didn't find him soon she'd have no choice.

She made up her mind to make one last sweep of the area before heading back when the sound of a detonating grenade echoed through the trees. Dog reacted first, tearing off through the trees in the direction of the sound with Alyx in hot pursuit. As they got closer she could hear the sound of gunfire and the garbled screams of transhuman soldiers in their death throes. As they broke from the tree line Alyx could see the outline of a small building against the orange sky and the fading sunlight glinted off combine helmets as they converged on the entrance. She saw the blinking red light of a grenade arc through the open doorway and explode before it hit the ground, showering the advancing troops with shrapnel. A hail of gunfire followed, along with a hoarse australian voice yelling "Come on you bastards, who's next? I've got plenty for everyone!"

Alyx drew her pistol as she ran, squeezing off shots at the combine. One of the closer soldiers turned and raised his weapon to fire back but was promptly grabbed around the ankles by Dog, who wielded the unfortunate soldier like a club, using him to beat the rest of his comrades into the dust before throwing him through the wall of the building with a crash. There was deafening silence for several seconds before a weak voice from inside the building said "Bloody hell."

Alyx sprinted the last few metres to the cabin and came to a stunned halt in the doorway. Gordon was sitting with his back against the wall in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by empty casings and magazines. His face was as grey as ash, but he still managed a weak grin when he saw her. "Come to join the party did you," he quipped, gesturing to the carnage outside with the empty USP pistol he was still holding.

"Oh Gordon," Alyx whispered as she dropped to the ground beside him, looking over his wounds with an expression of horror on her beautiful face. "What happened to you?"

"I got shot," he answered with a wry smirk. "Well, mostly shot anyways. Pretty sure I got stabbed and blown up a couple of times too. It's all a bit of a blur now."

While Gordon babbled, Alyx pulled a small first aid kit from one of her belt pouches and filled a syringe with the green medical compound he had become very familiar with since arriving in City 17. "We have to get you out of here," she said, as she gently prised the handgun from his fingers and rolled up his sleeve to to the elbow. Being as gentle as possible she injected the serum into the vein on the inside of Gordon's arm, "It's not much, but it should help with the pain and at least get you walking again." Gordon nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the rough wooden boards behind him.

While she waited for the drugs to take effect she packed up the first aid kit and slipped outside to check on Dog. She found him absently toying with a discarded combine helmet, he looked up as she approached and let out a series of worried whoops and chirps. "He's ok for now," She told him, "But we have to get him back home, fast. I need you to run back and tell Dr. Matthews to have the sickbay prepped and ready for us. Can you do that boy?" Dog nodded excitedly and sprang away, his huge strides eating up the distance to the rebel base.

Alyx went inside to find Gordon back on his feet and collecting what remained of his equipment. His colour was already better and he wasn't obviously bleeding from anywhere that she could see. He was still in bad shape though. They'd have to move fast.

"Feel up to a walk," she asked with forced cheerfulness. He nodded and gave her a grateful smile, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and moving towards the door. Alyx came up beside him and pulled his left arm across her shoulders so he could lean on her. "Come on, as quickly as you can," she said as they started the long trek back to black mesa east.

It wasn't an easy journey, but they covered the distance much more quickly than Alyx had feared. Gordon hadn't complained the whole trip, although by the time they reached the airlock his breathing was ragged and his face was covered in sweat. She helped him into the elevator and activated the controls to take them to the infirmary level while he sank gratefully onto the floor and pulled out his last cigarette. Fishing his battered zippo lighter out of of his pocket he lit up, took a long drag and exhaled, watching the patterns of the smoke as it drifted up through the metal framework.

"That was a close one eh," he said. "Next time I'll have to take more ammo."

Alyx rounded on him, her face a mask of fury.

"What the hell is wrong with you," she demanded.

Gordon stared at her blankly, somewhat taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanour.

"You go wandering off into combine territory alone, without your hazard suit, and you don't even bother to tell anyone where you're going! Jesus Gordon, what were you thinking?" She shook her head in disbelief, "And you're talking about 'next time'?"

"Alyx I..." He began, but she cut him off.

"No! Just, just...Don't." She turned away angrily and stared at the wall in silence until the elevator slowly ground to a halt and the door slid open.

Gordon pushed himself to his feet and began to shuffle out, but Alyx wasn't finished with him yet. She turned back and fixed him with the coldest look he'd seen her direct at anyone. "If you want to go and get yourself killed that's fine with me. But at least let me know beforehand, so I won't have to bother looking for you." She nodded towards the end of the corridor. "Sickbay is down there. I'm going to let my father know we're back."

She turned and pressed the control panel, shutting the door in Gordon's face. He slowly turned away and plodded down the hall to the infirmary.

It didn't take the resident medical doctor long to tend Gordon's injuries. He quickly removed the few bullet fragments and pieces of shrapnel that he'd collected and set up an IV drip with a bag of the universal medical compound. He'd told Gordon to wait until it had been absorbed and then he was free to head to bed. That had been around two hours ago and the bag was almost empty.

Gordon sat in the room's only chair, feet on the wooden crate that served as a table, eyes staring at nothing, fingers toying aimlessly with the straps of his tac rig. He heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and looked up to see Eli enter the room. The older man was carrying two glasses and a bottle of clear liquid. He nudged Gordon's legs out of the way and sat down on the crate in front of Gordon, arranging the glasses beside him, uncorking the bottle and pouring a generous measure in to each, passing one to Gordon and taking the other himself. Gordon stared at the drink for a while before looking up at Eli.

"Come to have a crack at me too, have you," he asked, more gruffly than he intended.

Eli just smiled. "No, I figure you're already feeling silly enough without me having to add to it." Eli took a sip of his drink, "And besides, I highly doubt that I could say anything that hasn't already been said, much more succinctly by somebody else."

"You got that right," Gordon muttered, before tasting the liquor.

"She certainly seems to have inherited her mother's utter lack of patience with idiots," he added with a rueful smile.

Eli chuckled softly. "You wouldn't think that kind of thing was genetic, but let's face it: We both know she didn't learn it from me," the older man said, a very gentle note of rebuke in his voice. Gordon didn't miss it, and his smile vanished, replaced by the detached, thousand yard stare Eli had seen many times before. Eli leaned forward, reaching out to rest a hand on Gordon's arm. "Look, I know you feel like an ass right now, and you should, but we all make mistakes. You all made it back safe, and tomorrow is a new day."

Gordon stared at his lap, shaking his head slowly. "It was a hell of a mistake Eli."

"I know. And I also know that self recrimination is one of your talents. You're already carrying around more guilt than you should son, don't let today become another one of the things you hate about yourself."

Gordon took another swallow of his drink and leaned his head back against the chair, trying to organise his thoughts. It wasn't easy, between the painkillers and Eli's moonshine things were getting pretty hazy. He still had no idea what to do about the worst part of what had been a pretty terrible day all over.

"She was really mad Eli," he finally said, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead and rubbing his eyes.

"And why do you suppose that is," Eli asked with a strange smile.

Gordon shook his head, "Buggered if I know. Like she said, if I want to get myself killed, why should she care?."

Eli laughed softly. "Same old Gordon," he said, "For a smart guy, you really can be pretty stupid sometimes."

Gordon frowned but said nothing. Noticing the transfusion was complete he removed the needle from his wrist and watched as the lingering effects of the compound caused the puncture to close before his eyes. He downed the last of his drink and coughed.

"God that's awful," he said, blinking back the tears that had sprung up as the fiery liquid burned its way down his throat. "What the hell is this made from? It's even worse than the stuff those lunatics in D squadron cooked up out of rat guts and potato peel."

"Best you don't know," Eli answered. "Come on, I'll help you to your room."

"I can manage," Gordon replied, standing up and immediately falling back into the chair.

Eli extended a hand and pulled him to his feet, placing a steadying hand on Gordon's shoulder as they made their way down to the dorms. Eli wished Gordon goodnight at his door and retired to his own room.

Gordon wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed, but he was still caked in dried blood and he knew he'd feel a lot better in the morning if he forced himself to shower first. On his bed he found a fresh towel and some clean clothes which he gratefully gathered up, along with his small toiletry kit before kicking off his boots and padding down the hallway to the shower block. He took his time washing, the steaming hot water doing much to ease the lingering aches and stiffness left by his injuries.

After he had dried himself off and brushed his teeth he slipped on the new pants and threw the shirt over his shoulder before making his way back to his room. As he walked back down the hallway he was surprised to see Alyx hovering outside his room. She was shuffling around, wringing her hands and glancing at the door as though she was trying to work up the courage to knock. She looked like she was ready for bed, having exchanged her usual jean and hoody ensemble for baggy sweat pants and a singlet. It was also the first time Gordon had ever seen her without a headband, her tousled hair hanging down over her face and giving her a very soft, feminine look.

 _Man she's pretty._

Gordon pushed the intrusive thought away. If she'd gone to the trouble of coming down to his room to yell at him again, the least he could do was to try to pay attention and not ogle her too much.

"Lost something," he enquired, once he was close enough to speak without raising his voice. Alyx jumped and spun around at the sound, somehow contriving to look annoyed and guilty at the same time. She recovered quickly though, and composed her face into a nervous smile.

"Gordon! Hey," she said with forced levity. "I just wanted to make sure you made it to your room ok. I see you found the clothes I left for you."

"Yes I did, and the towel as well. Thankyou, that was very thoughtful." Gordon replied with a small smile, still not exactly sure what was happening.

"Good, good, uh... I figured you'd probably want to get cleaned up before you slept," she went on, looking everywhere but at Gordon.

"Yeah, I was kind of a mess," he answered with a small, nervous laugh.

Alyx dropped her eyes and shifted uncomfortably.

"Look, about before... I just wanted to apologise. I was way out of line, I know you can take care of yourself and you don't answer to me."

"Alyx..."

"I'm sure you had your reasons for be doing what you did."

"Alyx..."

"I mean, you're Gordon Freeman right?"

"Alyx, _stop,"_ he finally said, raising his voice slightly when it became clear she wasn't hearing him.

He moved closer, prompting her to finally look up and meet his gaze.

"You have nothing to apologise for," he went on more quietly. "Everything you said before was absolutely correct. What happened today was pure belligerence on my part. I went out cocky, ill-equipped and with absolutely no idea what I was walking in to. It was selfish, reckless and irresponsible. I'm sorry, it won't happen again. I hope you can forgive me."

A genuine smile spread across Alyx's face as he spoke. She knew it took a brave man to take responsibility for himself and admit his faults so openly, and this display of character did more to increase her respect for him than anything he might have done on the battlefield.

"Of course I can Gordon," she answered. "I'm just glad you're safe. You scared the hell out of me," she added, her smile faltering.

"I know," he replied. "And I'll find a way to make it up to you, I promise."

That brought her smile back twofold, prompting an answering grin from Gordon.

"Anyway," Alyx said, after a few seconds of slightly uncomfortable silence. "I should get to bed."

"Me too," Gordon replied, "It's been a long day eh?"

Alyx nodded, "Sleep well ok?"

"Yeah, you too."

Alyx turned and began to walk back down the hall to her own room, taking a few steps before Gordon called out to her.

"Alyx?"

She stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

"Thankyou."

The naked sincerity in his voice caused little flutters in the pit of her stomach, and she flashed him a brief but heartfelt smile before she turned away and hurried off down the hall, a little extra spring in her step.

Gordon watched her until she disappeared around the corner at the far end of the corridor, the right corner of his mouth pulling up in a cheeky half smile. With a soft sigh and a shake of his head he slipped into his own room, the door closing behind him with a soft thud.

 _Well, there we go. This one was a bit of a stretch for me, as the only concrete idea I had when I started was the part with Alyx tearing strips off Gordon for being a berk, and I had to build the rest of the story around that. I suppose the idea was to make Gordon seem a little more fallible, and by extension make Alyx's feelings for him seem more like genuine affection and less like hero worship. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and please R &R if you've got time.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

_Ok guys, next chapter is here. Sorry it's taken so long for an update, had a bit of writer's block happening lately. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and if you have time to review I'd be most grateful._

Gordon woke up screaming. He was drenched in sweat, and his blankets were knotted tightly around his legs. In his panicked state, he almost fell off his bed as he fought to free himself. He could hear banging and someone calling his name, but it was pitch black and he couldn't seem to figure out where he was, or who was speaking.

He heard the sound of a doorknob rattling, and suddenly yellow light streamed into the room, illuminating the bare concrete walls and sparse furnishings and causing Gordon to throw up a hand to shield his eyes.

"Gordon, are you ok," came a concerned voice that he recognised as belonging to Alyx Vance, and suddenly he remembered where he was, in his room at black mesa east. He slumped back onto his mattress, breathing heavily, dropping his arm to his side and blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Without his glasses, and still dazzled by the sudden brightness he was virtually blind, but he felt someone sit down beside him on the bed and he looked in their direction, eyes trying to focus on the figure beside him. He reached out for his glasses and had them pressed into his hand. He murmured some vague thanks and slipped them on, the room around him swimming into sharp focus.

And there was Alyx, perched on the edge of his bed, still managing to be the prettiest girl he knew, despite her puffy eyes and bed hair. He managed a small smile for her benefit and sat up, pulling his blankets up around his midsection, suddenly painfully aware of the fact that he was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

"Gordon? You were yelling in your sleep, is everything ok," She asked, her gentle hazel eyes brimming with concern.

"Yeah, yeah. Just a bad dream is all," he answered, looking down at his lap. "I'm sorry if I woke you," he added with an apologetic look.

"Me and everyone else," she said with a brief smile. "Whatever you were dreaming about must have been awful."

Gordon just shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "It's happens sometimes. It's not the end of the world," he finally went on.

"I'll be ok," he added with a reassuring smile.

Alyx didn't seem convinced, and made no move to get up.

There was a knock on the door and the pair looked over to see Eli silhouetted against the light from the hallway, his features unreadable in the shadows.

"You still have the nightmares huh," he asked, his words and tone suggesting this was not a new experience for him, or Gordon.

"Yeah," Gordon answered. "It's to be expected I suppose, after yesterday."

"That's true enough. Which one was it?"

"Donnie."

Eli nodded sadly while Alyx glanced from Gordon, to her father and back again.

"Donnie," she asked, her brow knitting into a frown.

"He was an old friend of mine," Gordon answered.

Alyx studied Gordon in silence before looking back to her father, obviously hoping for more information.

Eli seemed reluctant to say anything, staring at Gordon for a long moment before speaking.

"Alyx, I think there's still some cocoa in the kitchen. Why don't you take Gordon upstairs and make him some," he finally said, tactfully changing the subject.

"Err... Ok, sure," she answered, still somewhat confused. "Come on Gordon," she said, rising to her feet.

Gordon nodded, "Just give me a sec, ok?"

"Sure, I'll be outside."

Alyx returned to the hallway, flipping the lightswitch as she walked past so Gordon could see what he was doing.

Eli closed the door to give Gordon some privacy and turned to Alyx, who was watching him with a questioning look on her face.

"What was that about," she asked.

"It's not my story to tell," her father answered.

"Gordon will explain, if he feels up to it. Just sit with him for a while and let him talk if he wants to."

"Sure thing," she answered. "Is he ok? He seemed pretty shaken up," she added, concern creeping back into her voice.

"He'll be fine, he just needs some time to calm down."

There was a creak as the bedroom door opened and Gordon emerged, wearing a tattered pair of jeans and a black, long sleeved shirt. He gave Eli and Alyx a sheepish smile. "Sorry about this," he said, embarrassment clearly etched across his features.

Alyx countered it with a brilliant smile. "Don't worry about it. Come on, let's go."

She turned and headed off in the direction of the kitchen, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Gordon was following. Gordon gave Eli a grateful nod, and the older man responded with an affectionate pat on the shoulder before walking back to his room. Gordon trotted after Alyx, catching her before she had reached the end of the corridor. The pair rode the elevator in companionable silence, coming to a stop on the galley level. The normally bustling kitchen was quiet now, the Vortiguant chefs having retired for the evening. Gordon found a pan and started boiling some water, while Alyx scoured the cupboards for the cocoa. She found it eventually, tucked away behind an assortment of spices. There was even a small jar of powdered milk, which was a welcome surprise.

Once they were seated across from one another at the end of a long table, steaming mugs in their hands, Alyx broke the silence.

"Feeling better," she asked gently, fixing Gordon with the smile that was becoming the best part of his day.

"Yes, thankyou," he responded. "And thankyou for this, you really didn't need to."

"It's no problem, really."

They lapsed into silence once again, occasionally sipping from their cups and studying each other across the table.

"Did you want to talk about it," Alyx finally asked when it became apparent that it was going to take a little coaxing to get Gordon to open up.

He sighed and looked down at the table.

"Not really. But, I know it will help if I do."

He paused, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt before continuing.

"The nightmares are nothing new, as you've probably figured out. Sometimes they're random, but there's a couple of recurring ones that involve particularly...distressing events that occurred while I was in the army."

Alyx nodded in understanding.

"The one you had tonight was one of those, I take it?"

"Yes, the most upsetting one. Unfortunately it's also the most frequent."

"And...it's about your friend? Donnie," she prompted.

"Yes, Donald Anderson was his full name. He was our platoon medic, as well as being my spotter when I was on sniper detail. We went through basic training and SAS selection together, and wound up as very good friends."

Gordon smiled distantly at the memories.

"He was the finest man I ever knew, next to your dad, and my own father of course. He was one of the toughest men in our squadron, and yet, somehow he managed to stay soft inside. He never let the job steal his humanity, even though the things we had to see and do grieved him terribly. We shared a tent most of the time, and I'd hear him cry himself to sleep at night, and then in the morning he'd get up, put his game face on, and go back to work. It was awe inspiring. He'd follow the most...distasteful orders without flinching, but he never deceived himself into believing that the fact that we were following orders made what we were doing any less evil. He kept me going, you know? Made me believe I could do my job without becoming a monster."

"Sounds like he was a good friend," Alyx replied, softly.

"The very best," Gordon said with a smile. "And he still is, even though he's not here with me anymore."

Gordon trailed off, and took another sip from his mug.

"What happened," Alyx asked carefully, suspecting that the story wasn't going to have a happy ending.

Gordon took a deep breath before continuing.

"It was our fourth tour of Afghanistan, it was going to be Donnie's last too. Both our contracts were nearly up, and he was getting out, planning to go off to medical school and become a doctor, so he could do what he did best: Helping people. He and I were part of a support team for an assault on a local warlord's fortress, we were holed up in an abandoned village a few clicks behind where most of the action was, with the rest of our platoon and a few squads of Afghan Army soldiers. We'd set up a few recon positions to provide eyes for the artillery units further back, as well as an aid station in one of the bigger buildings so that the guys up front had somewhere to evac their casualties to. My outfit had been doing a lot of front line work in the weeks prior, and it was supposed to be a nice, cushy job to give us a bit of a break."

He paused and reached into a pocket to retrieve his cigarettes and lighter, sparking one up and blowing the smoke over his left shoulder, away from Alyx.

"Anyway, things went fine for most of the day. I was out in one of the sniper's blinds keeping an eye on things and Donnie spent most of his time with the wounded, making sure they were stable and as comfortable as possible. We were due to be relieved by a company of US marines at around seven o'clock in the evening, and their convoy was already on it's way. Just as it was getting dark we came under attack from small patrols of the warlord's militia, it was no big deal at first, just a few groups trying to sneak past the perimeter we'd set up. They weren't particularly well trained or equipped, so we were putting them down without too much hassle. They kept coming though, and pretty soon it turned into a decent sort of a bust-up.

We still weren't particularly worried, as the relief convoy was only a few minutes away, and we stuck to our original exfil plan: My unit was to get airlifted out in helicopters, and the Afghans would load the wounded into some of the vehicles that were inbound and get out that way. The choppers arrived first and we loaded up, but Donnie chose to stay behind. He was the best medic we had, and he wanted to make sure the wounded were looked after until the marines could evac them. We were supposed to wait until the convoy arrived before we pulled out, but we were taking a lot of fire, and we couldn't risk losing one of the birds, so we were forced to take off, just as the marines were entering the opposite side of the village."

Gordon paused and closed his eyes, taking deep, steadying breaths. His left hand was clenched around his cup, the tanned fingers turning white with tension, prompting Alyx to reach out across the table and gently place one of her hands over his. Her wordless display of support helping him to steady himself, and soon he was calm enough to continue.

"We saw the convoy get ambushed. They hit the lead vehicle with a booby trap to stall them, and then they came pouring out of the woodwork. We had no idea there were so many. I tried to get the pilot to put us back down, but our LZ was getting overrun and we were almost out of ammunition, so we wouldn't have been much help anyway. We hauled arse back to base, rearmed, got the rest of the squadron together, and headed straight back, but that took the best part of an hour. As we dropped back in we could see the whole place had gone to hell. The marines were still stalled on the outskirts of the village, which meant Donnie and the Afghan boys had been on their own the whole time. We smashed our way through to the aid station, guessing that they would have made their stand there, to protect the wounded. As we got close we could hear gunfire, so we knew someone was still alive in there. We rolled up on the building just as the militia were breaking down the door and dropped the hammer on them, nailed about a dozen to the wall before the rest figured out we weren't in the mood to take prisoners and scattered. When we got inside, the place was a butcher's shop. They'd managed to barricade the entrances and get the wounded into the basement so they were safe, but most of the Afghan soldiers were dead or dying, and Donnie...well, he was alive when I found him, all shot to hell though. He was..."

Gordon suddenly stopped, shaking his head as if to clear the horrific image from his mind.

"Well, you don't need to hear the details. We did everything we could for him, but there was just too much damage. He died in my arms."

He stopped speaking and drew his hand from under Alyx's, fumbling for another cigarette with shaking fingers and finally getting it lit on the third try. He exhaled and met Alyx's eyes across the table.

"The dream always starts as I'm jumping off the helicopter, and I'm convinced if I just get to him fast enough he'll be ok, but...I never do."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, flicking the ash from his cigarette onto the ground.

Alyx looked at him with glistening eyes from across the table.

"Gordon I'm so sorry."

"Thankyou, I appreciate that," he answered with a sad smile. "It's only in my dreams that the grief still finds me, in my conscious mind I've made peace with it. No one forced us to enlist, we both knew the risks and chose to sign up anyway, same way he knew he was putting his life on the line when he chose to stay behind with the casualties. But his love for his comrades was greater than his fear of death, and his sacrifice granted life to many other people. In the end, it was his victory, not theirs."

Gordon's smile widened just a little.

"I know I'll see him again one day, and until then..." he paused and placed his hand over his heart, "I'll carry him with me, always."

A companionable silence descended,

Alyx didn't know what to say, but Gordon didn't mind. Just having her there was extremely comforting, and they didn't speak again for some time, just sipping their drinks and basking in each other's company.

It was Gordon who finally broke the silence, "I can't thank you enough for listening to me like this, I know you've already got a world of problems of your own, without having to take mine on board as well. It really means a lot to me. And thankyou for everything else as well, I don't know what I would have done without you looking out for me. I wish there was something I could do to show you how grateful I am."

Alyx smiled and leaned across the table to place her hand on Gordon's once more.

"Don't worry about it, we're friends right? We take care of each other."

Gordon returned her smile.

"That's true. But once again, thankyou."

Gordon drained the last of his cocoa and pushed his chair back, slipping his hand from under Alyx's with a little twinge of regret.

"Come on, I've kept you up for too long already. Time to get some sleep."

They rose together, and washed up their cups and utensils before heading back to the dorms. Gordon walked Alyx to her room, a little crestfallen despite his tiredness. Given the option, he would have much preferred her company to sleep, but there would be work to do in the morning and they both needed rest.

"Well, this is me," she said when they arrived at her door.

Gordon nodded awkwardly, his burgeoning attraction to Alyx turning him into a nervous wreck at the most inopportune times.

 _You're hopeless. Getting shot to shit doesn't bother you, but put you in front of a pretty girl and suddenly your spine turns to jelly. Come on man._

"Yeah. Well, goodnight," he answered lamely, wishing he could think of something charming, or at least less banal to say.

"And thankyou again, for everything."

There was that smile again.

"Don't mention it, sleep well ok," she replied.

"You too."

Alyx reached out and gave his arm a companionable squeeze before flashing him another smile and slipping into her room, closing the door behind her.

Gordon heaved a sigh and wandered back to his room. He sat down on his bed and lit another cigarette, mulling over his conversation with Alyx. The more he got to know her, the more she surprised him with her warmth and compassion. She had been genuinely moved by his story, despite the fact that the world was now full of people who had lost their friends and family, including Alyx herself. It took a very special person to maintain any kind of empathy in circumstances like that. He smiled to himself as he thought about her, and how much he'd come to rely on her friendship in the short time they'd known one another. He knew he was developing some rather strong feelings towards her, but it was different to any other romantic attraction he'd experienced before; She was a beautiful young woman, no doubt about that, but his response to that aspect of her seemed...muted somehow, probably a result of the "suppression field" he'd heard about. The dampening of the urgent physical response he'd normally experience meant he was able to focus on the emotional attraction much more easily. It was...refreshing somehow, wanting someone simply for who they were, without his mind being clouded by the overriding desire to get her into his bed.

He finished his cigarette and dropped the butt into a tin can beside his bed.

Pulling off his shirt and placing his glasses carefully on their stool, he crawled under the covers, slipping into a mercifully dreamless sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He awoke a few hours later, feeling surprisingly rested, despite the shortness of his sleep. He climbed out of bed and stretched, picking up his glassesand glancing at the tiny window above his bed to try to get an idea of the time.

The light that filtered through the grubby glass was amber, tinged with red, suggesting the sun was only just rising. Good, that meant he hadn't missed breakfast. He stripped off his sleeping pants, moved over to his HEV suit and began putting it on. He didn't normally wear it around the base, but he was still feeling pretty sore from the previous day, and he knew the suit's nanotechnology would help his body recover. He also planned to go for another scouting mission, knowing his battle with the combine had very likely stirred up a hornet's nest. If they were planning some kind of retaliation, he had to know as soon as possible. Once the suit was fully in place, he scooped up his backpack, bandolier and rifle and headed for the door, pausing only to grab his lighter and a fresh pack of cigarettes from beside his bed.

He made his way up to the kitchen and sat down at the same table he and Alyx had used the night before, carefully stacking his gear on the seat beside him. The room was mostly empty this early, and besides the Vortiguant chefs working feverishly over the stoves there were only three other people about, a pair of guards playing chess at a table on the far side of the room, and a woman he recognised as one of the maintenance engineers sipping something hot from a mug and reading a very tattered copy of Alice In Wonderland. Everyone seemed intent on what they were doing, so Gordon made no attempt to engage in conversation, not that he particularly wanted to talk to anyone anyway. He was about to get up and see about some food when one of the Vortiguants appeared by his side.

"Does The Freeman require nutrients," the creature asked in it's rumbling baritone voice.

"Err... Yes, please. Just whatever you have is fine," he answered, not used to being waited on.

"Very well. This one will return shortly."

The creature bustled away and returned a few moments later with a plate of scrambled eggs and a mug of black coffee.

"Thankyou," Gordon said, as the food was set down in front of him. The alien simply nodded in response and returned to the kitchen. Gordon ate quickly, the powdered eggs and instant coffee reminding him of the army ration packs he knew from years past. The coffee was so strong it was almost like tar, just the way he liked it. Pleasantly, it also lacked the acrid tang of the amphetamines that army coffee was often laced with.

Once he had finished, he returned his crockery and utensils to the kitchen and collected his equipment, planning on swinging by the armoury to replenish his stocks of ammunition before going in search of Alyx. It ended up taking longer than he expected, the only 7.62mm ammo he hadn't already pillaged was stored in some ancient disintegrating belts designed for light machine guns, and he was forced to spend a good half hour painstakingly removing the bullets and loading them into his magazines one by one. Once he was finally done, he donned his tactical rig, adjusting it to accommodate the extra bulk of his suit and making sure everything was properly in place.

When everything was arranged to his satisfaction, he slung his pack and rifle over his shoulders and headed off towards the scrapyard, making an educated guess that Alyx would be there. He knew she liked to squeeze in a little play time with Dog in the morning.

He hummed to himself as he rode the elevator to the ground floor, feeling strangely cheerful despite everything that had transpired over the last few days. If he was honest, he still had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, or how he was supposed to be doing it, but right now, that didn't seem to worry him very much.

The elevator ground to a halt, and the door jerked open, revealing Eli's lab. It was still empty at this time of the morning, but some of the lights had been turned on, meaning at least one person had come through recently. He made his way through the lab and down the dimly lit corridors towards the scrapyard airlock. It was eerily quiet, and the sound of his footsteps on the rough concrete floor seemed to echo brazenly in his ears. He walked past the abandoned passage to Ravenholm, his hand unconsciously slipping down to caress the stock of his pistol. Nothing jumped out at him though, and he forced his hand away with an effort. Once he reached the airlock he activated the controls and the metal blast doors creaked open, the sounds of laughter and some metallic crashes from outside revealing his hunch had been correct. A smile spread across his face as he strolled out into the yard, taking a deep, refreshing breath of the crisp morning air. He picked his way around the crates, barrels and discarded shipping containers that littered the area, slipping his cigarettes out of one of his ammo pouches and lighting up as he walked. He emerged into the widest part of the canyon to see Dog and a gravity gun wielding Alyx engaged in a lively game of half-court basketball. Well, basket roller-mine anyway. Not wanting to interrupt, he sat down on a nearby crate to watch, unshipping his rifle and leaning it against the chainlink fence behind him. He went unnoticed for quite some time, until he offered up a round of applause when Alyx landed a particularly long range three point shot. Alyx spun around at the sound and a wide smile spread across her face.

"Gordon! You're up already? I figured you'd want to take it easy today."

Gordon smiled back, "No rest for the wicked I suppose," he answered.

"How are you feeling," she asked, a more serious look creeping across her features.

"Good. Really good actually, thanks to you,"

Her smile returned, and she toyed absently with the hair around her right ear, as she often did when she was feeling self conscious.

"Glad to hear it," she answered, "And you're all suited up I see, you going somewhere?"

Gordon hesitated for a moment before replying, not entirely sure how she'd respond to his plan to go scouting again.

"Yeah," he finally said, "I was planning on going for another look around outside."

Alyx looked concerned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Not really, but if trouble is on the way I'd prefer to know about it sooner rather than later. I'll be careful, I promise."

Alyx nodded slowly, obviously not thrilled about the idea, but understanding Gordon's reasoning.

"Are you leaving right now? If you can wait a bit I can try to get a radio link working, so you can stay in contact with us."

"That's a great idea, and I'm in no rush," Gordon answered, "Finish your game first."

Alyx shook her head, and was about to offer to leave off playing and get to work right away, but a series of excited whoops from Dog changed her mind.

"Alright, we'll be quick ok?"

"Take your time, we've got all day."

Gordon settled back to watch the match unfold, it was comforting in a strange way, seeing people do normal, everyday things. Even if one of the people was a giant robotic gorilla.

As he sat admiring the sleekness and grace of Alyx's movements, he ran the previous day's adventure over in his mind. It was the first chance he'd had to really analyse what had happened, and for some reason the two roadblocks he'd encountered stuck out in his mind. They had seemed pointless, but he had a hard time believing an entity as large and as organised as the Combine would do anything without a reason. It was almost as if...

He sucked in his breath sharply and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

"Alyx," he said slowly, "What is our exfil plan?"

She stopped what she was doing and looked over at him with a blank expression.

"Sorry, what?"

"If things go pear-shaped, how do we get out of here," he reiterated, still speaking in a slow, deliberate manner, as if his mind was elsewhere.

"Err... Well, we've got a couple of vehicles we can use, there's roads that will take us north through the woods, we have a few safe houses out that way. And if things get really bad, there a tunnel that comes out in an abandoned farmstead..."

"On a hill overlooking the canals," Gordon finished for her.

"Yeah. How did you..."

"Cheeky bastards," Gordon breathed before snatching up his rifle.

"We need to leave."

Alyx looked confused, "What? Why," she began, but Gordon cut her off.

"Alyx, they know we're here. There's checkpoints on both the roads leading north, and a garrison at the farmstead. When they come for us, we'll be caught like rats in a trap. We have to get out. _Now._ "

"Oh my God," Alyx whispered, "We have to warn my father, come on Dog."

Her words were punctuated by a familiar whine that Gordon recognised as the sound of an artillery shell.

The trio looked up to see a formation of tiny aircraft flying overhead.

"Too late," Gordon growled, jumping to his feet and cocking his weapon. "Move!"

They sprinted for the airlock, a headcrab shell crashing into the ground behind them. They heard the squeals and chirps of the parasites, but didn't bother trying to fight, knowing their best chance was to get inside.

Alyx reached the entrance first, followed by Dog, with Gordon acting as the rearguard. Once inside with the doors shut behind them, Alyx passed the gravity gun off to Gordon and began working feverishly on the control panel, trying to contact her father.

Gordon slung the weapon on his back and checked the chamber of his rifle for the fifth time. He could hear gunfire in the distance and his knuckles were white where they grasped the pistol grip, his index finger caressing the trigger guard.

Alyx was still struggling to get the communication systems working,

"Dad? Dad, it's Alyx, do you read," he heard he say as he scanned the room, trying to piece together some kind to plan to get them all out safety.

"Alyx honey..." Eli's voice suddenly crackled over the radio, the sounds of battle clearly audible in the background.

"What's going on in there," Alyx asked, her voice frantic.

"Where are you Alyx?"

"We're in the scrapyard airlock, stuck in a full autocycle."

"Is Gordon with you?"

"Right here brother," Gordon called out over Alyx's shoulder.

"Good, I want you two to..."

The radio suddenly cut out and the room was plunged into darkness. Gordon tensed reflexively and pulled his rifle up to his shoulder, eyes straining into the velvet blackness for what felt like hours before the red emergency lights blinked on.

The radio came to life a moment later, Eli's voice sounding metallic and distant.

"Take Gordon out of here, head for the coast...Do not go through Rav..."

With a final splutter the communication system died, leaving them cut off.

"Dad? Dad! Dammit," Alyx cried, before turning to Dog.

"Dog, open the airlock, get us out of here."

Dog needed little encouragement and immediately began tearing at the heavy blast doors.

"Hurry, now! Tear it apart if you have to, just get it open," Alyx shouted over the sound of screeching metal.

Gordon crouched down behind Dog and sighted down his scope, his finger on the trigger as the robot redoubled his efforts to make a path. With a tortured squeal one of the doors finally peeled back, just enough for them to squeeze through.

"That's enough Dog," Alyx said, quickly slipping through the opening, with Gordon following close behind, his weapon still at the ready. He paused to scan the corridor ahead, but Alyx was already sprinting down the hall towards the lab, calling over her shoulder for Gordon to catch up. He cursed under his breath and set off after her, trusting Dog to follow. He had almost caught up to her as she took the sharp right hand turn that led to the lab, but was forced to pull of short as part of the ceiling collapsed in front of him, cutting him off. He let out a string of curses and slung his rifle over his shoulder, tearing at the rubble with his hands. Most of the pieces were far to big for him to move, and he only managed to clear a tiny space on the far right of the pile. He looked through the gap to see Alyx's worried face staring back at him, and let out a sigh of relief.

"You ok," he called out, still scrabbling at the fallen masonry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, "But listen Gordon, you need to get out of here."

"What are you going to do," he called back, not liking the idea of leaving her one bit.

"I can't leave my father..." she began, but

Gordon was shaking his head before she had finished speaking, "No, no way," he interrupted, "I'm not leaving you here."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Dog, take Gordon to the Ravenholm tunnel and then circle back and try to meet up with me. Hurry!"

Gordon glanced over his shoulder to see that Dog had caught up and was crouched just behind him. He opened his mouth to protest, but an explosion rocked the building and another section of ceiling came down, forcing him to throw himself backwards to avoid being crushed. Once he regained his footing it was obvious that the tunnel was now permanently blocked, separating him completely from the rest of the facility.

"Alyx? Alyx," he shouted, but it was clear she couldn't hear him.

"Dammit," he snarled, kicking angrily at the rubble. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Seeing no alternative but to follow Alyx's instructions, he and Dog quickly backtracked to the tunnel that let to Ravenholm. The hall was blocked by a thick, metal door but Dog hauled it open with ease. Before slipping through, Gordon reached up and took hold of one of the metal flaps that formed part of Dog's head and pulled it down to eye level.

"Alright big fella, you get after her ok? Take care of her for me."

Dog nodded enthusiastically and let out a series of whoops, clearly eager to be off in search of Alyx.

"Good lad," Gordon finished, before releasing the robot and walking into the tunnel beyond. The door slammed down behind him with a crash, leaving him alone in the shadowy hallway. Taking a deep breath, he unslung his rifle and followed the path that would take him to the haunted village of Ravenholm.

 _Whew, that one took longer than I expected. I'm basically done setting up Gordon's character, so I think the next couple of parts will focus more on some of the in-game events that you're all familiar with. I'll try and be a bit quicker about getting the next part out, I promise. Thanks for reading guys._


End file.
